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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE 



FESTAL YEAE; 



OR, 



THE ORIGIN, HISTORY, CEREMONIES AND MEANING 

or 

THE SUNDAYS, SEAS0.NS, FEASTS AND FESTIVALS 

OF 

THE CHURCH 

DURING THE YEAR, 

EXPLAINED FOR THE PEOPLE. 



Eev. Jas. L. Meagher, 



AUTHOR OF "TEACHING TRUTH BY SIGNS AND CEREMONIES. 



* * »» > 



C"^ 






New York . 
RUSSELL BROTHERS, 17, 19, 21, 23 ROSE STREET./ i""^-y 



1883. 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 






Imprimatur. 



^ JOHN, CARD. McCLOSKEY, 

Arclibp. of New York. 



Copyrighted, ]883, by Ret. Jas. L. Meaghek„ 






-Vlftf 



"RtisselTu Brothers, Printers, 
17 to 23 Rose St., N.Y. 



The LIB**"* 1 ? 



PREFACE. 



In the days of the infancy of the Christian Church, 
when, with a mighty wind, the Holy Ghost in tongues 
of fire came down on the Apostles, he breathed into 
them his own divine wisdom, and kindled in their 
hearts the fire of his love. Thus enlightened with 
the light of that fire from heaven and moved by the 
Holy Spirit, the Apostles and the followers of Christ 
dedicated the year, its days, its times and its seasons 
to the memory of the Saviour, to the mysteries of our 
redemption, and to the work of the Spirit of God, in 
saving the generations of men, as they come and go 
upon the stage of this world. They took the finest 
passages and parts of the Old and of the New Testa- 
ments, the inspired words of the ancient Patriarchs, 
the magnificent canticles of the Prophets, the simple 
yet sublime writings of the Apostles and their succes- 
sors, and of them formed for each Sunday, Season, 
Feast and Festival, an Office of praise, of prayer and 
of thanksgiving unto God. Such was the beginning of 
that striking and magnificent ceremonial or Liturgy of 
the Church, called the Latin Bite. 

In the following pages will be opened up before you, 
in a clear and simple manner, the origin, history, 
meaning and ceremonies of the Christian Year, which 
the Church uses in her public Services, when her 
prayers, her praises, and her thanksgivings ascend 
ever up before the throne of God. Spouse of Christ, 
and directed by the Holy Spirit, she offers daily unto 
our Creator a Service and a Sacrifice worthy of the 
Godhead and worthy of our study. 



VI 



More than eighteen hundred years have come and 
gone since Christ, the Saviour, walked this earth, yet 
by these yearly rites and ceremonies, by these striking 
forms and figures, by these types and symbols, chang- 
ing daily as the Sundays and Seasons, the Feasts and 
Festivals of the year pass by, by these the remem- 
brance and the memory of God's creation and of the 
Son's redemption are ever kept before the minds of 
men. Take away the celebration of the Festal Year 
and soon the works of the Creator and of the Re- 
deemer would be forgotten. Such is the object of the 
yearly services of the Church, to keep forever bright 
and green before the world the remembrance of the 
creation, the redemption, and the salvation of the 
human race. 

We have dug deep into the rich mines of ancient 
learning and of lore, searched the works of the great 
Fathers of the Church, read the writings of those 
master minds, who in the early days of the Christian 
religion, gathered up the traditions of the Apostles ; 
we looked over the works of both ancient and modern 
times in preparing for this work, but with regret we 
are forced to say that the duties of a parish, added 
to our poor abilities, have made the book much in- 
ferior to what the subject demands, yet we promise 
you, reader, that you will be well repaid for reading 
the following pages, and if you find anything to ad- 
mire in the book, give honor to the Holy Ghost, whose 
wisdom you will find reflected in the yearly services 
of the Church. 

Feast of St. Luke the Evangelise. 
Marathon, Cortland Co., N. Y., Oct. 18, 1883, 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 
THE DIVISION OF TIME. 



Reasons relating to the Division of Time, .... 9 

I. The Hour, 13 

II. The Day, _ . 1.5 

III. The Week, 21 

IV. The Month, 28 

V. The Year, 35 



CHAPTER II. 
THE RELIGIOUS YEAR. 

Reasons relating to the Religious Tear, - 37 

I. Feasts among the Pagans, ------- 38 

II. Feasts among the Jews, ---._.. 42 

III. Feasts among the Christians, 50 

IY. The Public Offices of the Church, .... 55 

V. The Bible during the Year, ---_._ qq 

CHAPTER III. 

THE ADVENT SEASON. 

Reasons relating to the Advent Season, 78 

I. The First ..^Sunday of Advent, 87 

II. Thk Immaculate Conception, -->_... 89 

III. The Second Sunday of Advent, 94 

IV. The Third Sunday of Advent, --_... 95 
V. The Fourth Sunday of Advent, - 98 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE CHRISTMAS SEASON. 

Reasons relating to the Christmas Time, - . . . 105 

I. Christmas Day, - _ . - 121 

II. New Year's Day, - - - . . . . . 125 

III. The Epiphany, - 131 

IV. The Holy Name,. - - - - . . . . 139 
V. Candlemas Day, _ - 142 



b CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER V. 

THE SEPTUA GESIMA SEASON. 

Reasons relating to the Septuagesima Season, - - - - ] 50 

I. Septuagesima Sunday, 161 

II. Sexagesima Sunday, -------- 164 

III. QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY, - 167 

IY. Shrovetide, - - - 173 

Y. Ash "Wednesday, - 177 

CHAPTER Vt 

THE LENTEN SEASON 

Reasons relating to the Lenten Season, .... 184 

J. The First Sunday op Lent, ------- 206 

II. The Second Sunday of Lent, 210 

III. The Third Sunday of Lent, 215 

IY. The Fourth Sunday of Lent, 218 

Y. Passion Sunday, - 223 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE HOLY WEEK SEASON 

Reasons relating to Holy Week, ------ 228 

I. Palm Sunday, 236 

II. Holy Wednesday, 247 

III. Holy Thursday, . - 255 

IV. Good Friday, ------'----266 

V. Holy Saturday, 271 



CHAPTER VIII. 
THE EASTER SEASON 

Reasons relating to the Easter Season, - 280 

I. Easter Sunday, --------- 292 

II. Low Sunday, - 300 

III. The Annunciation, - - 302 

IV. The Ascension, 306 

V. Whitsunday, 308 

CHAPTER IX. 
THE AFTER-PENTECOST SEASON 

Reasons relating to the After-Pentecost Season, . - - - 315 

I. Trinity Sunday, - 321 

II. Corpus Christi, - 323 

ITI. The Assumption, 328 

IV. The Feast of All Saints, 331 

V. The Feast of All Souls, ------- 332 



The Festal Year. 



Chapter I . — T he Division" of Time. 



REASONS KELATING TO THE DIVISION OF TIME. 

Let me lay before you, reader, the times, the seasons, 
the feasts and the festivals of the year. Let me take you 
back among the writers of the past and show you the 
origin, the history and the meaning of the rites and ser- 
vices of the Christian year. Let me tell you how the 
Apostles and the followers of our Lord dedicated the 
hours, the days, the weeks, the months and the seasons 
of the year to the memory of Christ, by which, from 
generation to generation, His coming, His life, His won- 
derful works and His awful death are brought before the 
minds of men. 

And Thou, O Holy Spirit, who guided the prophets of 
olden times, wilt Thou guide me now ? Thou who moved 
upon the waters 1 on the morning of creation, move 
now my mind and pen to show Thy face as seen in these 
wonderful rites and ceremonies. Thou whose guiding 
hand directed the Church in celebrating the festal year, 
wilt Thou direct me now, that I may clearly and wor- 
thily show forth the beauties of the Christian feasts and 
festivals ? Be with the reader going through this book ; 
open his mind to see the truth ; inflame his heart that 
he may love, so that, guided by knowledge and in- 
flamed by love, he may rest at last in God, the fountain 
of all knowledge and of love. 

To prepare the reader to understand the festal year, we 
will first treat of the different parts into which time is 
divided. But what is time ? Time is a part of duration. 

If we study the duration of beings, we find one without 

1 Gen. i. 2. 



10 DURATION AND ETERNITY. 

a beginning or an end, having no first or last. There 
never was a time when He was not ; time will never come 
when He will not be. That being is God. Thus looking 
back we find his duration lost in the past without a be- 
ginning ; looking ahead we find his duration lost in the 
future without an end. Not only that, but with God 
there is no past or future ; with Him all is present. 
That is His eternity, 1 revealed by Jehovah in the olden 
days of the splendors of the Egyptian kingdom, when the 
children of Israel dwelt in the land of Gessen. When 
God called Moses from the burning bush He said, " I am 
who I am." 2 

If we consider again the duration of beings, we find 
some stamped with the image of the Godhead — creatures 
brought forth from nothing, but to last forever — to be as 
immortal as God Himself — created to sing forever the 
praises of the Lord. They are creatures having reason 
and free will ; they are angels and men. There was a 
time when they were not. A time will never come when 
they will not be. They have not the duration of eternity 
in the past, but they will have the duration of eternity in 
the future. They were made to the image and to the 
likeness of God. Their duration is called their age. Of 
them the Royal Prophet speaks where he says, " Thou 
enlightenest wonderfully from the everlasting hills." 3 

If we examine still the duration of beings, we find 
others brought from nothingness and dark night on the 
morning of creation, when God created the world. They 
are the material things of the universe. Once they 
were not ; again they will not be. . Their duration is 
called time. They were made by the Creator when, in 
the beginning, " God created the heaven and the earth." 4 

Thus, eternity is the everlasting, unchanging, 5 ever 
present duration of God. Age is the never dying, ever 
living duration of created minds ; while time is the 
duration and the measure of the movements of material 
things. 6 Material things belong to the mineral kingdom, 
and as far as science goes to-day everything we see 
around us is divided into sixty-eight simple substances ; 
but as the knowledge of the human race increases 

1 S. Aug., Vol. xii. 31. 2 Exod. iii. 14. s Ps. lxxv. 5. 

4 Gen. i. 1. 5 S. Aug., Vol. xxvii. 297. 

8 San Severino, Philos. Christ. Compend. St. Aug., Vol. xix. 23 



ATTRACTION AND MOTION. 11 

every day, and mind grasps the secrets of nature, these 
may change in future times. 

According to Newton's laws, all pieces of matter at- 
tract each other, 1 and that attraction is according to their 
mass and the distance they are apart. It takes place as 
though a string pulled each particle toward the larger 
body. Among the little parts it is called molecular at- 
traction, 2 from the Latin, meaning a little mass, while 
among the suns and planets it is called gravitation, from 
the Latin, signifying heavy. What it is, or how it takes 
place, no one knows, as the very nature of matter is to 
be dead, without motion — to stay where it is put till 
moved by another force outside of itself. We find all 
matter in movement. Nothing in the universe is still. 
It is God moving the material things of the world to 
prove that He exists. 3 

Under the influence alone of attraction matter takes the 
round form, as the rain drops falling from the clouds, as 
oil dropped in the water, as the dewdrop on the flower, as 
the shining orbs of the sky. If the suns and planets of the 
heavens were left to this attraction alone, soon they would 
all come together, being pulled by gravitation the smaller 
toward the larger, and the systems of the universe would 
end in one mighty crash, as the worlds would be pulled 
together with an ever increasing quickness, and but one 
mighty mass would remain of the fragments of the shin- 
ing worlds of the sky/ 

Besides attraction, at their creation God gave each sun 
and planet two movements — one that of turning around 
on its own centre, the other a movement around a great 
central mass. For example, the earth turns around on 
itself once each day, and around the sun once each year. 
The earth attracts the sun, and the sun the earth. They 
do come together, because at the creation God gave the 
earth a motion as He launched it into space, so that it 
whirls around the sun. As when you tie anything to 
a string and whirl it quickly around, it tries to fly 
away, but the string holds it fast ; thus the attraction 
of the sun holds the earth. The attraction of gravitation 
is like the string, while the movement of the earth around 

1 Newton's Princip. Rer. 2 Secchi, Le Unite des Forces Physiques, 1. iv., c. 3, 3, 4. 

3 St. Thomas Sum. Theol. P. 1., Q. 11, A. 3. 

4 Mitchel, Proctor, Secchi, etc. 



12 WHAT IS TIME? 

the sun tends to hurl us off into space ; but these two 
forces haying been fixed at the creation exactly the same, 
one balances the other, and thus the earth remains at the 
same distance from the great central orb of day, the sun. 

The whole universe is in motion. The planets swing 
in ceaseless movement around their suns, or the smaller 
around the larger, all so balanced and so placed, and so 
depending on each other, that if one of these great worlds 
would cease to be, the grand and magnificent harmony 
of the heavens would be destroyed, and the stars and all 
the suns and planets would in time fall into some great 
centre of the universe; all would come together over- 
whelmed with one mighty crash. From the researches 
of astronomers of our times 1 that will never take place, 
and the system of the heavenly bodies has not in it the 
seeds of ruin and decay. 

Time is the measure of the movements of the heavenly 
bodies. 2 The earth goes around the sun, and the moon 
around the earth. The movements of these two measure 
for us time. The sun and moon, then, regulate the times, 
the days, the weeks, the months and the seasons of the 
Church. 

Time, says Cicero, is a certain part of a year, a month, 
a day, or of any other space. But we say that time is 
the measure of the motions of the heavenly bodies. As 
they move according to gravitation, which is always the 
same, they are the most perfect markers of time. 

Looking over the histories of the past, we find the 
oldest account of an instrument to mark time to be given 
in the Bible, where Isaias the prophet cried to the Lord, 
"and He brought the shadow ten degrees backward 
. ... in the dial of Ahaz." 3 That was the sun dial, by 
which the shadow of a stile marked upon a dial the hours 
of the day. Again, we find the record of the sun dial 
among the Romans, for we read of the one made by 
Curser, more than three hundred years after the days of 
the kings of Juda, when Isaias was foretelling the coming 
of the Lord. The first machinery made to measure 
time was a clock moved by the dropping of water. It 
was used by the Egyptians under the Ptolemies, still 
more improved by Clesibius of Alexandria, till carried to 

1 Leverrier. 2 Sec St. Thomas, Sum. Theo., P. 1, Q. xxxv. ad. 1. S. Aug., Vol. iii. p. 86. 
3 IV. Kings xx. 11. 



MEASURING TIME. 13 

the noble mansions of Greece and Rome. It marked the 
time of the masterly eloquence of the ancients, long be- 
fore the days of the Apostles, for Aristotle, Plato, Demos- 
thenes, Cicero and Pliny speak of the little vessel of 
dropping water which marked the passing time for these 
master minds of these olden days. Such was the thing 
used in the early days of the Christian church to mark 
the passing hours, even to the ninth century, for we read 
of one sent to the great Charlemagne as a beautiful gift 
from the Caliph al Rasched. The hour-glass, early in the 
Church, took the place of the water glass ; but we know 
not the maker or the date, but we know that it was used 
till lately, and even now it can be found but only as a 
toy. They sometimes marked the time by the burning 
of a candle ; and we read of the celebrated one of Alfred 
the Great, and how by it he divided the day into three 
parts, one for his religious duties, one for public matters, 
and the third for sleep. Who made the first clock we 
know not, some say Boethius, the great Catholic philoso- 
pher of the early Church ; x some say Wallingford, the 
abbot and superior of the monastery of St. Albans ; 2 
others, Gerbert, when Archbishop of Magdeburg, who 
afterwards became Pope Sylvester II. ; 3 but we are 
told by the early writers that in the eleventh century the 
clock was found in all the monasteries and the convents 
of Europe, when the tinkling bells of the great clock 
standing in the halls of the religious houses called 
the monks and nuns to their prayers, and the tolling of 
the great bells of the church towers told the people of 
passing time, or warned them of the hour of mass, or of 
the moment of the raising of the Host. In the early days 
the priests brought the clock to England, and the great 
church of Westminster and the cathedrals of Exeter, of 
Wells, of Canterbury, and of Peterborough, soon had their 
clocks to ring out the time for the Catholics of England 
long before the Reformation (about 1326). 

I. — The Houe. 

We must first speak of the different parts into which in 
modern times the hour is divided. 

The second is the sixtieth part of a minute, and is the 
smallest part of time among English speaking people. 

1 510. 8 1326. 3 996. 



li THE SECOND, MINUTE AND HOUE. 

We find no mark of the second in nature. It is only since 
clocks and watches were improved that they began to put 
in second dials. 

Before that time they called small parts of time 
moments and instants, 1 which were not fixed in length. 
Now the second is still more divided into halves, thirds, 
and quarters, while by the wonderful improvements used 
in observatories, by electricity, and the transit, with its 
many spider-webs stretched across the field of vision, 
the time of the passing of a star can be told to the hun- 
dredth part of a second. 

The minute is the sixtieth part of an hour. The name 
minute comes from the Latin, meaning little. We find 
no mention of the minute in ancient times. Without 
doubt it was first used when clocks and watches began to 
measure time, it being so natural to mark the dial off into 
twelve equal figures, and each figure into five spaces. 
The sun-dial of the ancients may have been marked the 
same way, but the earth not moving around the sun at 
all times with equal quickness, the length of the days 
will vary sometimes sixteen minutes during the year 
when marked by a sun-dial. 

The hour is the twenty-fourth part of the day. 

From the earliest ages they marked the passing time 
by dividing the day from sunrise to sunset into twelve 
equal parts called hours, 2 from the Latin and Greek 
meaning a part of the day. With them the first hour 
began at sunrise, and the twelfth ended at sundown. But 
as the time of sunrise and sunset are not the same at all 
times of the year, only in the spring and fall, when the 
days and nights have an equal length, were the hours of 
the ancients alike. 

Of the times when the day was thus divided, history is 
silent. We know the Jews thus counted time, from many 
parts of the Bible. One writer, Herodotus, says it was 
used by the Greeks, who learned the custom from the 
ancient Babylonians, the most advanced in the knowledge 
of the movements of the heavenly bodies. Another, Wil- 
kinson, thinks the early Egyptians separated both the 
day and night into twelve hours. Although the Romans 
divided the day into twelve hours, as early as history 

1 Durondus, Rationale Div. 4. viii. c. v, n. 4. 2 Polyd. Virgil, lii. c. 5. 



HOURS OF THE DAY. 16 

goes back, they did not thus count the hours of the night 
till the times of the Punic wars. 

We count the hours from twelve at midnight till twelve 
at noon, and from that till midnight again, a custom we 
learned from the ancient Egyptians, while the astronomers 
begin at noon and count twenty-four hours till the next 
noon. In Borne they count twenty-four hours, beginning 
at sunset. 1 The Chinese beginning at midnight count 
twelve hours till the next midnight, one of their hours 
being equal to two of ours. 

From the traditions of the past we learn that Christ 
was delivered to the Komans the first hour of the day, 2 
the third he was scourged, 3 the sixth crucified, 4 the ninth 
he died, the eleventh his body was taken down from the 
cross, and the twelfth laid in the tomb. 5 In the early 
ages of the church they divided the hour into the point, 
moment, unce, and atom. The point was the fourth part 
of the hour, and was like our quarters. The point had 
ten moments, the moment ten unces, while the unce was 
made up of forty-seven atoms. 

From the times of the Apostles the clergy recited the 
offices of the breviary, which are called the holy hours. 
They do not correspond to the hours of the day, but as 
they were said at regular times, both at night as well as in 
the day, they took the place of the hours for thd clergy be- 
fore the times of clocks and watches ; hence they are 
called the hours of the breviary. 

IL— The Day. 

The day is the time measured by the turning around 
of the earth, or the time when one-half of the earth is 
lighted up by the rays of the sun, and then when the 
same half is again clothed in darkness till the sun rises 
again in the east. It is made up of twenty-four hours. 
That is the natural day. The day then is found in nature. 
The name, day, comes from the customs of the ancient 
Romans, who set apart a day of the year for each of their 
false gods ; or again, it comes from the old Greek word 
meaning two, for thus the sons of ancient Athens called 
the day and night. As the earth moves around the sun 

1 Holy Week in the Vatican, by Pope, p. 2. 2 John xviii. 28. 3 Mark xv. 15. 

4 John six. 14. 5 Durand Rat. Div. L. V. C. I. n. 6. 



16 NAMES OF DIFFERENT DAYS. 

in the form of an oval, and not with the same speed at all 
times of the year, watching the movements of the sun in the- 
sky is not a good way of measuring the day, but the aver- 
age of all the days of the year, measured by the earth go- 
ing around the sun, is the common day among all nations. 

As the fixed stars are so far away that the movement 
of the earth around the sun is like nothing compared to 
their distance, the time when a star is in a place in the 
heavens, and the time when it comes to that point again, is 
the true time of the turning of the earth, and is called 
the astronomical day. Since the time of Ptolemy, as- 
tronomers begin at noon and count the hours from one 
to twenty-four, their day being three minutes and 
fifty-six seconds shorter than the common day. 

When the dog-star is in the sky in summer, they are 
called the dog days. When the sun appears not to move 
to the north or south in spring and fall, they are called 
the equinoctial days. When the kings of olden times 
went out to war, they were called the fighting days. 
When the forerunner of our Lord was preaching penance 
on the banks of the Jordan, they were called penance days. 
When now the children of our church do penance for their 
sins, they are called fast days. When the church celebrates 
the feast and the memory of the resurrection of our Lord, 
they are cfalled Sundays. W^hen we keep the services of 
the church and celebrate the memory of our Lord, the 
Holy Virgin, and the Saints, they are called feast days. 
When the people return again to their work during the 
week, they are called week days. At length, when the 
Lord will come in glory to judge mankind, it is called the 
last day. 

The word day again means the space of time when the 
sun shines on our part of the globe ; the part lighted up 
is day, while the part in darkness is night. The days 
and nights are the same at the equator, but become 
longer or shorter as we go north or south, till at the 
poles the days and nights are nearly six months in length, 
the day being a little longer in both cases, because the 
light is turned out of its course by the air through which 
it passes before reaching the earth. 

The day is also made up of three -psnts — morning, 
noon and night; 1 but the beginning or the ending of 

1 Isidore. 



18 DIVISIONS OF THE DAY. 

these parts of the day are not closely marked. The 
word morning comes from an old word of northern 
Europe, and means the early hours of the day. Noon 
comes from the Latin, and was the hour at which the 
Romans took their chief meal at three in the afternoon ; 
and as in these latter times we take our midday meal at 
noon, we call it noon. Evening comes from the old Teu- 
tonic word signifying declining, and means the going 
down of the sun, or the calmness of the declining day, 
and such is its meaning now. 

The clergy of olden times, under the inspiration of the 
Catholic Church, divided the night into seven parts. 
They had the Yesper time, for when the evening star 
" Vespera " looked down so brightly from the sky, the 
early Christians sang the Vespers — the psalms of praises 
to the Lord. They had the twilight hour, when they 
said their evening prayers, when the clergy read the 
compline. They had the crepuscule, when they retired 
to their couches. They had the corticine, when all 
dropped into sleep. They had the midnight, when all 
was silent, as they had no lights as we have now ; the 
silent night was then in the midst of its course. They 
had the galicine, when the crow of the cock waked the 
stillness of their slumbers. They had their matin, when 
the clergy rose to say or sing in common the matins of 
the breviary. They had the delicule, 1 when the faint 
rays of the hidden sun told of the coming day. They 
had the aurora, when the splendors of the breaking light 
waked the world with the brightness of the sun, the 
coming king of day. 

Again, following the customs of the Jews, the early 
Christians divided the time of daylight into four parts : 
They had the first hour at six in the morning, when their 
work began, when the clergy recited Prime from the holy 
office. They had the third hour, when the sun had 
risen midway toward the highest heavens, when the 
clergy said Terce. They had the sixth hour at noon, 
when they had the Office of Sext, while, when the orb of 
day had gone half way down the western sky, they fin- 
ished the Little Hours by saying None. Thus in the in- 
fancy of the Church was the day devoted to God by the 



J See S, Aug. Ser. ccxxi., in Vig. Pasch, 



CONSECRATED HOURS. 19 

early saints and martyrs of old, amid the persecutions of 
the pagan nations when our fathers kept the faith. 

But do you think we changed ? The same has ever 
since been carried on by the clergy of the Church. The 
seven Offices of the Breviary are divided now as in these 
olden times of martyrs and of saints, for we never change. 
Matins must be said in the morning, or the day before, 
by a special favor of the Holy See ; Prime and Terce be- 
fore noon, unless the reciter has a reason ; Vespers in the 
afternoon ; but in times of penance, as in Lent, before 
noon, because, in ancient times, they fasted till the even- 
ing, and then they said Vespers, and under the beaming 
light of the evening star the early Christians broke their 
fast. Thus we still renew those ancient days of holiness 
and of saints. We consecrate the hours of the day to 
Him who came and prayed to His heavenly Father dur- 
ing the hours of the day, and spent whole nights in com- 
munion with His Father. 

The Jews, beginning the day at sundown, divided it 
into three series of times : the major hours, the minor 
hours, and the hours of prayer. The major hours began 
at six in the morning, and divided the day from morn to 
eve into four equal hours ; x the minor hours began at six, 
and divide the day into twelve equal hours as we do 
now. 2 Thus, when we know these two ancient ways of 
counting the hours, we find there is no trouble between 
the Gospel of St. Mark, where he says, "And it was the 
third hour and they crucified Him," 3 for he followed the 
major way of counting the hours ; and the words of St. 
John, who says, " And it was the paras ceve of the pasch, 
about the sixth hour," 1 for he followed the minor way of 
counting the hours. Our Lord, then, was scourged at 
nine in the morning, crucified at noon, and died at three 
in the afternoon. The hours of prayer, or as they were 
called by the Jews, the hours of the temple, were the 
third hour at nine in the morning, the sixth hour at noon, 
and the ninth hour at three in the afternoon, when, by 
the silver trumpets of the temple at Jerusalem, they were 
called to the services of the law of Moses. 

These customs came down from the times of the Patri- 
archs, for the most ancient traditions of the Jews tell us 



1 See Mark xx, 3, 5. 2 See Matt, xx, 9, John i. 39. 

3 Mark xv, 35, 4 John xix, 14. 



20 HOUES OF SACRIFICE. 

that Abraham, their father, used to pray at the first hour, 
Isaac at the third, and Jacob at the sixth. 1 That they 
had their limes of prayers during the hours of the day 
many parts of the Bible prove. David says, "Evening 
and morning and at noon I will speak and declare."- 
Those customs of the Jews are continued to-day in the 
Church of God, when the Angelus bell tolls morning, 
noon and night to call the people to their prayers, con- 
tinued again at the prayers said before our three meals. 
Thus from the very days of the Patriarchs we trace our 
custom of praying three times each day. 

In the old law, the sacrifices of the tabernacle and of 
the temple were offered up morning and evening, prefig- 
uring the morning and evening services of the Church, 
the mass and vespers of our holy faith. In the early 
ages of our holy religion mass was said both in the morn- 
ing and evening, for they followed the customs of the 
temple. They all fasted till the evening hour, such was 
the fervor of those ancient days. 

Some began to celebrate after breaking their fast, 
when the Church made laws forbidding mass to be said 
unless by joriests and bishops when fasting. 3 And again 
by other councils 4 they were forbidden to say mass unless 
fasting, except on Holy Thursday. This custom of holy 
men fasting till evening and then celebrating the mys- 
teries of the mass remained till the twelfth century, 5 
when it went out of custom. 6 Even at that time the 
custom was not to celebrate in the evening, as St. Thomas 
says, "Generally mass should be said during the day 
and not at night." 7 The general custom and law is at 
this time not to begin before the aurora or after noon. 8 

The remnants of these times of prayer are found t o- 
day among the Mahommedans. From their founder they 
learned to keep these customs of praying five times each 
day — at daybreak, soon after sunrise, at noon, in the 
afternoon, and at nightfall, when, after the ceremony of 
their washing themselves, learned from the Jewish 
temple and from the Catholic Church, they offer up their 
prayers to the one God their founder learned to love 
from the teachings of our faith, which once flourished in 



1 Zanolini, Dispt. de Testis et Sectis Jud. c. viii. 2 Ps. liv. 18. 3 Concil. Agatb et 
Aurelien. 4 Concil. Carthag. iii., et Matis. ii. 5 Innocent III., Lit. de Temp. Ordinat. 
6 Hallier De. S. Elec, et Ordinat, p. 2., sec. vii., c. I., A. iv. 7 P. 3. ([. 83. A. 2. a Ru- 
brica Missalis. 



TEADrrroNS oe the week. 21 

Arabia. The ecclesiastical or church day begins in the 
evening and ends on the following evening, a custom 
coming from the Jewish temple. 1 

III.— The Week. 

The word week comes from the old Teutonic tongue, 
and means the seven days into which all nations had 
divided time. Amid the grandeurs of ancient Egypt, 
when the rows of obelisks pointed heavenward on the 
road leading to the temple of the sun at Heliopolis — when 
the temples grand and gorgeous of olden Thebes saw the 
mysterious rites of Isis and Osiris, from beyond the 
dawn of history their priests had kept the week. Among 
the half cultured peoples of India, in the olden times, 
when the religion of Brama was telling of the trinity of 
the Yeda, on the banks of the Ganges, from beyond the 
ancient age of fable, the people kept the week. Amid 
the splendors of classic Greece, in the temples and shrines 
of ancient Athens, among the verdant .hills of Thessaly 
and of Epirus, the Grecian peoples kept their week and 
called it the hebdomada. The Teutonic tribes of north- 
ern Europe, where the Druid rites were carried on before 
the time of Christ, had their week. In the temples 
of Eome they kept their week and named each day after 
one of their false gods. Thus the great writers of re- 
mote times 2 tell us that the week of seven days was 
observed by the oldest nations, and was the remains of 
the early traditions coming down from the creation that 
God had made the world in six days, and rested on the 
seventh. 

The Egyptians studying astronomy named the planets 
after their gods, and to each they consecrated, a day of 
the week ; 3 thus they called the days of the week by the 
names of the planets. As the Egyptians worshipped the 
sun and fire, the obelisks were cut to signify the rays of 
the orb of day beaming through the clouds to the earth, 
and the pyramids were built to be like the shape of a 
flame of rising fire. The sun and its light then was their 
chief god, and to his worship was set apart the first day 
of the week, Sunday. The moon in brightness comes 
next to the sun ; to her was dedicated the second day of 

1 See O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 144, note. 2 Clemens Alexan., Josephus, Pholo 
Jud and others. 3 Casius, Hist. Rom. L. 37 C, 18, 19. 




The Cathedral, Strasburg" 



NAMES OF THE DAYS. 23 

the week, Monday. The planet Mars shines brightly, 
morning and evening, in the sky ; to him they devoted 
Tuesday. He was the god of war, but by our fathers of 
northern Europe he was called Tise or Tiwes, from that 
comes Tuesday. Mercury was the planet nearest the 
sun, to him they set apart "Wednesday ; but as he was 
known to our pagan fathers as the god of eloquence and 
of commerce under the name of Woden, the god of the 
Saxons, 1 from that we have Wodensday, or Wednesday. 
Jupiter, seen so often as a shining star, by them was 
adored on Thursday, but by the people of the Teutonic 
race he was known by the name of Thor, the god of 
thunder, hence our Thursday. To Venus, the shining 
evening and morning star, they sacrificed on Friday ; but 
by the ancient people of northern Europe she was known 
by the name of Frig, or Friga, the goddess of love and of 
marriage, from whence our Friday. Saturn was supposed 
by them to be the farthest planet from the sun, and he 
was worshipped on Saturday. 

The Egyptians began their week on Saturday, 2 and 
from them it is said in ancient times the Greeks and 
Romans learned to name the days of the week called 
after their gods, whom they supposed had gone up into 
heaven and became the shining planets, looking down 
from on high and guiding the course of the world below. 3 

The week dates back to the time when, "in six days 
the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all 
things that are in them, and rested on the seventh day. 4 
All nations of antiquity had held that tradition, till the 
poets and the priests of the pagan times destroyed the 
old belief of the people in one God 5 long before the time 
of Christ, till we read that God commanded Moses that 
they " should observe the Sabbath day. 6 Some say that the 
four weeks of each month come from the four quarters of 
the moon. 7 

That week of creation, when from nothing God brought 
forth this world by His almighty power — when He ar- 
ranged all things for the use of man — when He brought 
the material world to the state of being a place of happi- 
ness for the human race— what do these great periods of 

1 Cartwright. 2 Dion Cassius Rom. Hist. 3 S. Aug. Enar. in Ps. xciii. n, 3. 
4 Exod. xx. 11. 5 St. Aug. Confes. L." proving this, quotes Cicero. ,; Deut. v. 15. 
7 Cosmographie par I/Abbe Menuge, p. 127. 



24 THE AGES OF THE WOBLB. 

time, these six days of the creation of earthly things, sig- 
nify? They are but so many figures of the six ages 
during which God in the Old Testament foretold, ar- 
ranged and prepared the things of the spiritual world for 
the redemption of man during the six periods, or the six 
ages of the world before the coming of Christ. Thus, as 
man came on the sixth day, the last and most perfect 
handiwork of God, so Christ came in the sixth day, the 
sixth age of the world, as the last and the greatest work 
of God for the salvation of the race. As on the seventh 
day or age God rested, so all may rest in the bosom of 
the great Catholic church founded by Christ, our Lord. 

The first day or age of revelation was from Adam to 
the flood, when darkness was upon the mind of man, and 
but little light beamed upon the patriarchs, the holy ones 
of old. The second age was from the flood to the call of Abra- 
ham, when God called him to be the father of the faithful. 
The third age was from the call of Abraham to the deliv- 
ery of the Israelites, when God established with them His 
covenant, and gave them His rites and ceremonies, to 
typify the rites and ceremonies of the Church. The 
fourth age was from the going out of the children of 
Israel to the building of the temple of Solomon, when 
God filled him with wisdom to raise a house adorned 
with beauty and with grandeur to prefigure our churches. 
The fifth age of the world was from the temple of Solo- 
mon to its destruction and its ruin, to tell all people that 
unless they keep the faith, their churches and their na- 
tions will be destroyed and ruined. 1 The sixth age of 
the world was from the destruction of the temple to the 
coming of the Lord to found His Church. 

And as when God had made all things at the creation of 
the world he rested on the seventh day, and called it 
holy; thus when God, who of old brought the world from 
nothing at the creation, so at the redemption, when he 
brought the human race from the destruction of original 
sin by the wonders of his mighty miracles of grace and 
of prophecy in the time of the Old Testament, and after 
his death he rested in the tomb. Now all is done. The 
mind of man can rest in his holy church; and the seventh 
age of rest is now here. Man can rest, for he has been 
redeemed. 

1 Is. lx. 12. 



THE JUBILEE. 25 

Beason teaches us there is a God. Beason tells us 
God must be worshipped. But reason does not say what 
time we should set apart to the worship of the Almighty. 

To the Jews God spoke by the mouth of Moses, 1 
and told them to keep the Sabbath — to teach them of the 
time he was to be worshipped — to keep before their minds 
that in six great periods of time he made the world, to 
turn men from the things oi this life, to give the people 
time to rest, and by that to prefigure the rest of their 
dead redeemer in the tomb, and to tell of the rest of all 
the good at last in the bosom of God in eternity. 2 How 
deeply God planted that work in the heart of his peojjle, 
" Six days shalt thou work, the seventh thou shalt cease 
to plow and to reap." 3 It was the rest of the Sabbath. 
The first month, the fourteenth day of the month, is the 
phase of the Lord . . . seven days shall you eat unleavened 
bread. 4 It was the great week of the year, prefiguring 
Holy Week, wherein our Lord died. "You shall count, 
therefore, from the morrow after the Sabbath, wherein 
you offered the sheaf of the first fruits, seven full weeks." 5 
It was the week of weeks, to foretell the great solemni- 
ties of the Church from Easter to Pentecost." " The 
seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall 
keep a Sabbath;" and again, "upon the tenth day of 
this seventh month shall be the day of atonement " 6 to 
prefigure the wiping out of our sins by the blood of our 
Saviour. 

They had the week of years, the seven years of seven 
years, when the fiftieth was the year of the jubilee, 7 from 
the Hebrew word signifying a time of joy, when all were 
delivered from their debts, when all were liberated from 
slavery, to prefigure our deliverance from sin and from 
the slavery of Satan. Then the word of the Angel 
Gabriel to the prophet Daniel came to pass, when 
the seventy weeks were "shortened upon thy people 
and upon thy holy city, that transgression may be 
finished, and sin may have an end, and iniquity may 
be abolished ; and everlasting justice may be brought ; 
and vision and prophecy may be fulfilled ; and the 
Saint of saints may be anointed ;" 8 when our Lord 

1 Exod. xvi. 23. 2 S. Aug. En., in Ps. xxxvii. n. 1. St. Thomas Sum. Theo. I. 2. q, 
102, etc. 3 Exod. xxxiv. 21. 4 Levit. xxiii. 5, 6. r > Levit. xxiii. 15, 6 Levit. xxiii. 
24-27. 7 Levit, xxv. » Dan. ix. 24. 



26 THE WEEK DEDICATED. 

would come and finish the works foretold of him 
by the great men of old and die for the sins 
of mankind. Daniel foretold the time when the temple 
and the holy city wonld be destroyed and desolation rest 
in the sanctuary, when the pilgrims and the tourists of 
other nations would come and see the ruins of the holy 
places, where once the grand temple of Solomon stood 
when the Jewish people became a reproach and a mark of 
God's anger, ana that nation, once the chosen of the 
Lord, be scattered to the ends of the earth, to teach 
mankind that the wrath of the Lord may fall on nations 
as well as on individuals for their sins ; to tell and to 
proclaim to the world that the things foretold in the 
Bible came to pass ; to be a living witness against the 
infidels, that there was a nation of Jews in olden times, 
as the Scriptures say. 

The Christians of the first ages kept the week of seven 
days, and when errors were increasing in the world, the 
Holy See, at the request of St. Boniface, the venerable 
Archbishop of Metz, ordered that on Sunday the Mass 
of the Holy Trinity be offered up, that is the reason we 
say the Preface of Trinity on Sunday ; the Mass of Holy 
Wisdom on Monday ; that of the Holy Ghost on Tuesday ; 
of Holy Charity on Wednesday ; of the Holy Angels on 
Thursday ; the Mass of the Holy Cross and of the Pas- 
sion on Friday, as on that day our Lord suffered ; and of 
the Blessed Virgin on Saturday, for she died on Satur- 
day, the 14th of August, in year 45 or 48. 1 Thus the Church 
took the days in the olden times, once devoted to the wor- 
ship of the false gods of Egypt, of the north of Europe and 
of the cultured people of Greece and Pome ; she touched 
them with her inspired hand and dedicated them to the 
honor of God and of His servants. She discarded and 
threw from her the names even of the false gods of 
ancient times, as it were to blot from the minds of men 
the dark stain of the pagan ages. 

Thus the Church at her beginning called Sunday, the 
Lord's day, Monday the second ferial, Tuesday the third 
ferial, Wednesday the fourth ferial, Thursday the fifth 
ferial, Friday the sixth ferial, and Saturday the Sabbath, 
for she did not wish, nor could she change the name of 



Life of B. V. Mary, by Orsini, p. 223, note. 



SUNDAY DEDICATED, 27 

Sabbath, in Hebrew rest, ordained by God, but still con- 
tinues to call it the Sabbath, in remembrance of the day 
of rest among the Jews, of the law of Moses and of the 
Sabbath of the Israelites. 

Christ was circumcised on Sunday, he rose from the 
dead on Sunday, and on Sunday the Holy Spirit came 
down on the Apostles ; thus from the beginning of the 
Church they kept the first day of the week holy 1 in place 
of the last day of the week, the Sabbath of the Jews, 
and called it the Lord's clay 2 from the very birth of the 
Church. The oldest inscription calling it thus dates 
from the year 403. 3 The first civil government to 
make Sunday a day of rest was that of Constantine, 
in 321, when he commanded all work to stop in the cities 
on " the venerable Sunday," but he permitted necessary 
farming to be done, 4 while, in after years, the Theo- 
dosian Code of Laws forbade all public business and 
lawsuits on that day. From the Church all civilized 
people learned to keep holy the Lord's day, so that at 
present it is kept by all Christians, a custom they 
learned from the Catholic Church in the olden days, 
when the Lord struck the heart of Constantine and the 
Emperors of Home, and showed them the truth of His 
holy religion. 

That they should dedicate the other days of the week 
to God or to His saints, is but natural, as they wished to 
turn the minds of the people, soon after the time of Christ, 
from idolatry; but of all kinds of superstition in those 
days, the worship of Venus, the goddess of impurity, was 
the worst. On Friday, the most lascivious, the most im- 
modest and the most impure rites and ceremonies were 
carried out in her temples, in the streets, and in the 
woods by the men and women of nearly every part of the 
ancient world. The early Christians were horrified at 
the sight of this wickedness. For that reason, from the 
very days of the Apostles they fasted on Friday, to give 
an example of self-denial to the pagans and to keep in re- 
membrance the day of the week on which their Saviour 
suffered for them. 5 Thus, from that early custom, we 
fast from meat on Friday. 6 Such is the origin and rea- 
son why we do not eat meat on Friday. 1 

1 Mayol Ex. 3a. Praecip. Decal nota. 2 Dies Dominica. 3 De Rossi. 4 Am. 
Tyclo., Sunday. 5 Jnlius Pollux chron. comt. 6 Billuart Ap. 4. De Abst. et Jej. A. 
H. n. 6. 7 Const. Apost. 1. v., n. 15 et 18 and 1. vii. n, 22. 



28 TRADITIONS OF THE MONTH. 



IV.— The Month. 



The word month comes from the old Saxon word mona, 
the moon, and means the time it takes the moon to turn 
around the earth, being in length twenty-nine days, 
twelve hours, forty-four minutes and three seconds. The 
month then is found in nature, and was used by the most 
ancient nations. It is found among the records of the 
Chaldeans, in the cuneiform characters in the ruins of the 
valleys of the Tigris and of the Euphrates. It is found 
on the banks of the Nile in the remains of the old dynas- 
ties of the kings of ancient Egypt.. It is seen in the 
works of the Greeks, in the cultured literature of their 
oldest authors. It is seen in the works of the Latin 
writers and in the edicts of their Emperors, regulating 
the months and the number of their days. It is seen in 
the legends of the inhabitants of the new world before its 
discovery by the saintly Columbus. Thus all nations 
had their months, which they called the " moons ;" for, 
from the dawn of man's appearance on the earth, he saw 
the changes of the moon, and measured the month from 
its turning around the earth. 

The oldest history is that of the Hebrews in the Bible. 
At first they began to call their months the first month, 
the second, and so on to the twelfth ; but by the lapse of 
time before their captivity in Babylon, they called 
September Etanim, October Bui, March Abib, and April 
Sif. 1 These were pure Hebrew words, but after they re- 
turned from their exile, in Babylon, the pure Hebrew 
was lost, they spoke Syre-Chaldaic, and called the month 
after the manner of the Babylonians ; March was Nisan, 2 
April Jiar, May Si van, June Tamuz, July Ab, August 
Elul, September Tishri, October Marchesvan, November 
Chislou, December Tebet, 3 January Scebat, and Febru- 
ary Adar. Such were the names of the month among 
the Jews at the time of Christ. 4 

Some of their months had thirty days and were called 
full ; others were of twenty-nine days and were called not 
full. 5 At first, the feasts and the sacrifices of the temple 
were held according to the changes of the moon, 6 till 
Hillela, a little before the time of Christ, formed their 

1 Oen. vi. 11, Exod. xl. ; Numb, ii., I. Par. xxvii., &c. 2 IL Esdras ii. 1. 3 I. Par. 
xxvii. 15. 4 Esth. viii. 9, Baruch i. 8, Zech. vii. 1, Mach. ix., II. Kings vi. and viii. &c. 
5 Gen. vii. 11 and viii. 4. 6 Zanolini De Fest, et Sect, Jud. c. viii. 



THE NAMES OF THE MONTHS. 29 

cycle by which the phases of the moon in the periods of 
nineteen years agreed with the revolutions of the earth 
around the sun. That cycle is followed by them at the 
present day. 1 

Among the Greeks and Komans the month was known. 
Cicero thinks its name came from the Latin word, mean- 
ing a measure of the days of the month. 2 Macrobius says 
it is the Greek, meaning a month ; others say that the 
name is from the Latin, meaning to measure, for the 
month measures the twelve spaces of the year. 3 The 
Eomans, like all the other ancient nations, divided the 
year into twelve months from their very beginning, but 
Romulus wanted to begin the year at the first of March, 
dedicated to the god of war, whom he supposed was his 
father ; and he wanted to have only ten months in the 
year; 4 but Pompilius, seeing that the revolutions of the 
moon would not agree with the revolutions of the earth 
around the sun, added January and February to the be- 
ginning of the year, and made the number twelve, as we 
have them now. 

The name January comes from a Latin word, which 
means a door, 5 for as by a door we enter the house, thus 
by that month we enter the year. Some say the name 
comes from Janus, 6 the god to whom the Romans conse- 
crated the first month, who, as he was supposed to begin 
all things, thus he began the year. February was called 
thus from a word meaning fever, for in that time of the 
year the people of Rome were subject to catching fevers. 
Some say it was named after a Roman festival, celebrated 
on the fifteenth of the month, 7 when they supposed they 
purged the souls of their dead from their sins ; whence 
one writer, Isidore, thinks the name is from a Latin word 
meaning the god guarding the souls of the departed, as 
to him they sacrificed during this month. Among many 
of the oldest nations, as the Hebrews, the Romans, 
etc., March began the year, afterward they added Janu- 
ary and February to the year ; the latter month being 
first placed after the former by the decemvirs in the fifth 
century before Christ (about 450); March was thus called 
from Mars, the father of Romulus, 8 who, with his brother 

1 Talmud. 2 L. II. de Nat. Deerum. 3 Durand Eationale, 1. viii. c. iv., n. 1. 4 Ovid 
I. Fastorum. 5 S. Aug. De Civitate, 1. vii., c. vii. 6 S. Aug. C. Faust, 1. xviii,, n. 5. 
7 S. Aug. De Civitate Dei I. viii., c. vii. 8 S. Aug. C. Faustum. Man. lxviii. n. 5, 



30 OKIGIN OF NAMES OF THE MONTHS. 

Remus, founded Rome, according to the ancient legends. 
April was thus named from the Latin word, meaning to 
open, 1 for then the buds and flowers opened to the light 
and to the heat of the blooming spring, or as some say, 
from the Greek, meaning Venus, for to her was this 
month dedicated among some of the olden peoples. May 
was named from the elders of Rome, for they were called 
the majors, in Latin, the elders, or others say from Maja, 2 
the mother of Mercury. June came from the juniors, for 
in the old times of the Roman republic there were the 
majors, or senators, who remained in the city and at- 
tended to the government, and there were also juniors, 
the young men who went to war ; thus May was named in 
their honor, while June was called in honor of the young 
men. Some writers say, June was called after the god- 
dess Juno, 3 to whom sacrifices were offered on this month. 
July was called after Julius Caesar/ who was born in this 
month, or because in this month he gained his greatest 
victories, when he conquered Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, 
with Antonius her husband, in a great naval battle. Be- 
fore that time Jul} 7 was called the fifth month, being the 
fifth from March, which then began the year. August 
was thus named from Octavius Augustus, the first em- 
peror of Rome, who lived in the time of Cicero and the 
great Latin writers, whence their time is called the 
Augustinian age of Roman letters. Before that it 
was called the sixth month, as it was the sixth 
from March. September was named from the Latin 
words, meaning many showers, or from the seventh, as 
that is its number from March. October, from the Latin 
for eight. November, from the word in Latin for the 
ninth, and December from the Latin for the tenth, 5 for thus 
they were numbered from March, which in the beginning, 
began the year. Thus our months came from the man- 
ner of naming them in the ancient days of the Romans, 
and the Church has continued their names and spread 
them among the civilized nations of the earth. 6 

In the beginning they gave thirty days to each month, 
making three hundred and sixty days ; but when they 
found they wanted five days to make up the year, they 

1 S. Aug;, vol. xxviii. 468. 2 S. Aug. Contra Faust, lxviii., u. 5. 3 S. Aug. Contra 
Faust, lxviii., n. 5. 4 S. Aug. C Faust, lxviii., n. 5. 5 S. Aug. C Faust, lxviii. n. 5. 
P Durand Rationale Piv, 1„ viii,, c, iv. 



THE CALENDS, NONES AND IDES. 31 

added one day to January, because it begins the year. 
Thus, having an uneven number of days, it tells of the 
unity of God which cannot be divided. 1 They gave an- 
other dayT;o March, and for the same reason another to 
July, while Augustus Caesar, not -liking his month, Au- 
gustus, to be shorter than the other, took a day from Feb- 
ruary and gave it to August. Then, again, the astrologers 
took a day from February and gave it to December ; thus 
they added five days to the year, leaving February with 
twenty-eigh + , and making the year of three hundred and 
sixty -five days. 

There were three days among the Romans in each 
month which were fixed, and which were called feast 
days, and regulated the other days. They were the cal- 
ends, nones and ides. Then the judges held their courts, 
then the people of the country flocked to the cities. 2 The 
calends were the first three days of each month, when 
they held the feasts of June; 3 the nones were the four or 
the six days following the calends, and were the market 
days, when they had no feasts ; 4 the ides were the eight 
days which followed the nones, and fell on the 13th or 
the 15th of the month ; but although the Council of An- 
tioch 5 says they fell on the 10th, this was for another 
reason. In January, February, April, June, August, Sep- 
tember, November and December, the nones fell on the 
5th of the month, while on March, May, July and Octo- 
ber, they came on the 7th of the month. The ides fell 
on the 15th day of the last named months, and on the 
13th of the first mentioned months, while the following 
days were numbered from the next succeeding calends, 
nones or ides. For example, they called February 19th 
the 11th, before the calends of March. 6 No modern nation 
follows this way of counting the days of the month. In 
the beginning of the Church, when her first Pope, St. 
Peter, dwelt at Rome, following the customs of the Romans, 
they counted thus the days of the month. As the Church 
continues her old ways and the manners of the ancients, 
and always remains the same, we often see to-day this 
way of counting the days of the months in the book of 
the Martyrology, in the letters of the Popes, and in the 



1 32 q. I. Nwptia. 2 De Con. Dist I. Si quis. 3 Ovid says " Vindicat Ausonias 
Saturnia Juno Calendas. 1 ' 4 Ovid says "Nonarum tutola Deo caret." 5 18 Dist. 
Propter. 6 Cosmographie par IVAbbe Minuge, p. 133. 



32 THE SEASONS. 

official Acts of the Pontiffs. For, as in the beginning, the 
Church adopted that manner of counting the days of the 
month, she keeps it still to show mankind how we 
never changed the customs and the manners we received 
from the times of the Apostles and of the ancient 
saint. 

The months of the year are each set apart to some 
special devotion, thus : January is dedicated to the Holy 
Infancy; February to the Holy Family; March to St. 
Joseph ; April to the Passion of our Lord ; May to our 
Lady ; June to the Sacred Heart ; July to the Precious 
Blood ; August to The Heart of Mary ; September to Di- 
vine Providence ; October to the Holy Angels ; November 
to the Souls in Purgatory ; and December to the Immacu- 
late Conception. Thus the Christian Church took the 
months, among the pagans given up to their false gods, 
and devoted them to the mysteries of our holy re- 
ligion. 

The word season comes from the Latin, meant at first 
the time for sowing and for planting, but in latter times 
it means the four quarters of the year, spring, summer, 
fall and winter. These seasons are caused by the earth 
going around the sun, the earth's equator, or a circle 
around its middle, not being in a line with the sun, 
but inclined twenty-one and one-half degrees. The sun 
then appears to pass twice across the equator during the 
year, in the spring about the 21st of March, called the 
vernal equinox, meaning the spring-time of equal nights, 
and in the fall about the 23d of September, called the 
autumnal equinox, meaning the fall time of equal nights. 
At these times of the year the days and nights are of 
the same length — the sun shedding his light the same on 
both hemispheres of our earth. 

The spring is the time when the sun crosses the equa- 
tor till it stops in its course to the north, beginning at 
the vernal equinox, March 21, and lasting till the sun 
begins to return to the south, June 21. 

The months of March, April and May make the spring 
among the people. Summer is the time when the sun be- 
gins to return to the south till it reaches the equator, be- 
ginning at the end of spring, June 21, and ending when 
the days and nights are of the same length, September 
22. Fall follows summer, and is the time when the sun 



34 THE NAMES OP THE SEASONS. 

crosses the equator, September 22, till the days are the 
shortest, about December 21. Winter lasts from the end 
of fall till the beginning of the spring. Such are the 
seasons, according to the astronomers, but they are not 
the same among all nations. In this country the months 
of March, April and May make the spring; June, July, 
and August are the summer months ; fall comes in Sep- 
tember, October, and November, while winter is made up 
of December, January and February. 

The name spring, comes from the plants springing from 
the ground, as they do at that time of the year ; summer 
comes from an old word of the north of Europe, and sig- 
nifies the warm time of the year ; fall comes from the 
Saxon Avord, which means the time of the falling of the 
leaves from the trees ; or its name, autumn, among the 
Romans, meant the time when nature showered down her 
abundance upon the earth. The word winter, in the old 
Teutonic tongue, signifies the season of storms and of 
winds, and from that it has come to mean the time of 
snow-storms and of winds among the English speaking 
people. 

From its very beginning the Church divided the Offices 
of the Breviary into four parts, corresponding to the four 
seasons of the year. This was to consecrate to the Creator 
the times and seasons of the year, that from earth to 
heaven might ascend that prayer of the Church, that uni- 
versal prayer by the chosen clergy, who plead man's case 
before the throne of God. 

By command of God, the Jews were ordered to fast 
four times during the year; to dedicate the seasons to the 
Lord. " Thus saith the Lord of Hosts : The fast of the 
fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the 
seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house 
of Juda joy and gladness and great solemnities." 1 Thus 
the Jews fasted four times during the year, on September 
3, December 10, February 13, and on June 17, to sanctify 
and dedicate to the Lord the four seasons of the year. 
This custom was followed by the early Christians from 
the most ancient times. We find that Pope Callistus, in 
737, explains the reason in his letter to Bishop Benedict : 
" As the year revolves through four seasons, we, too, may 
keep a solemn fast quarterly in the four seasons of the 

i Zach. viii. 19. 



THE LENGTH OF THE YEAR. 35 

year, following the words of the Lord to the prophet 
Zachary." This fast is called the Quater Tenses, from 
the Latin, meaning the four times of the year. The Qua- 
ter Tenses of the year, also called the Ember Days, are 
held on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays of the week 
following the third Sunday of Advent, the first week of 
Lent, Pentecost week, and after the feast of the Exalta- 
tion of the Holy Cross, in September. 1 Thus they cor- 
respond nearly to the beginning of the four seasons fol- 
lowing the 13th of December, Ash Wednesday, Pentecost 
Sunday, and the 14th of September. 2 In the works of 
the ancient writers we find that the custom of fasting 
during the Quater Tenses of the year was introduced by 
the Apostles, and that when at different times they were 
falling into disuse, they were restored by Popes Leo and 
Callistus. 3 

V.— The Year. 

The year is the time in which our earth completes its 
movement around the sun. Taking the centre of the sun 
and the centre of our earth, and referring a line drawn 
through these centres to the fixed stars, the time of its 
turning around is called the astronomical year, its length 
is 365 days, 6 hours, 9 minutes and 9.6 seconds. Taking 
the path travelled over by the earth, called the anom- 
alistic year, its length is 365 days, 6 hours, 13 minutes 
and 48.6 seconds. Again, taking the point called the 
spring time of equal days and nights, called the tropical 
year, till that point returns again, the year is 365 days, 5 
hours, 48 minutes and 4.36 seconds. Thus the year may 
be of different lengths according to the way we measure 
it ; even then it is not exactly the same, for the earth is 
always under the attraction of the other planets which 
may quicken or retard its motion around the sun, and the 
point from which we measure, the vernal equinox is slowly 
changing. Of the year we will speak more fully in the 
following chapter. 

1 Missale Rom. De An. et Part. Quot. Tern. 2 Cosmographie par L'Abbe cha. 
Menage, p, 133. 3 El Porque de las Cerernonias, c. xxx. Del Adviento, &c. 




The celebrated Clock, Cathedral, Strasburg. 



Chapter II. — The Religious Year. 



REASONS FOR CELEBRATING THE FEASTS OF 
THE YEAR. 

Amid the smiling groves of Paradise, when man first 
came from the creating hand of God, the idea of the 
Creator was sown in the heart of our first father and 
mother, and from that moment they knew that they had 
certain duties to fulfil towards their Creator. Our father, 
Adam, as the head and the representative of the whole 
race, sinned against heaven, and by that lost for himself 
and for us the right to enter that abode of bliss. The 
grace of God, which would have made us perfect, was 
taken from us, and therefore we are subject to misery, to 
suffering, and to death. 

Reason teaches man that there is a God, and following 
the light of his reason, man has always believed in some 
supreme power over him and ruling his destiny. Thus 
prayers, services, rites and ceremonies are seen wherever 
the race is found. The belief in one God, coming from 
Paradise, spread everywhere throughout the world, till, 
by the lapse of ages, before the time of Moses, the poets 
changed that true belief in only one Godhead into the 
many gods of the pagan nations. 1 Abraham was called 2 
to be the father of a new race, the Jews, who were to be 
God's chosen people, and to be separated from the wor- 
shippers of idols. Moses was chosen 3 to receive the reve- 
lation from God; to lay down the rites and the cere- 
monies of the Jewish tabernacle ; to prepare the Gentiles 
for the Church. The Prophets, inspired by the Holy 
Ghost, foretold the coming, the life and the death of the 
Son of God. The rites, ceremonies, services, feasts and 
fasts of the Jewish religion were- but so many types and 
figures of the rites, the services, the feasts, the fasts and 
seasons of the Christian year. Wonderful was the work 
of God in preparing the world to receive His Son and 
the Church He founded for the salvation of the race ! 

> Gentilism, by Fr. Thebauia. 2 Gen. xii. 3 Exod. iii. 



38 PRAYER AND SACRIFICE. 

The same Holy Spirit who moved the Psalmist and 
the Prophets to foretell the wonders of salvation, now 
guides the Church each year as she offers up before the 
throne of God her yearly rites and services. Spouse of 
Christ and daughter of the Apostles, our holy Church, 
from the time when the followers of our Lord lived upon 
the earth, she formed these feasts and fasts, these rites 
and ceremonies, and year by year she offers to the Lord 
her prayers for the salvation of the world. 

The first duty of man towards his Creator is prayer 
and sacrifice. God Himself has commanded the kind of 
prayer and sacrifice he will receive. He commanded 
the Patriarchs how to pray. He directed Moses how to 
make the tabernacle. 1 He guided the priests of the Old 
Testament in offering their sacrifices. He laid down the 
laws of the ceremonies of the Jews. 2 No prayers were 
received by God from all the pagan nations. Only in 
Israel was man's sujyplications heard in heaven. One 
nation alone, the Jews, could call themselves the people 
of the Lord, because he chose them, and because he 
told them the services which alone he would receive. 
Now there is but one Church founded by our Lord, built 
upon the Apostles, wherein there is prayer received by 
God. In other churches God is worshipped on Sundays. 
Not one quarter of the people ever come near their ser- 
vices, or, if they come, it is not to adore God. In the 
fury of the sixteenth century they said in their hearts, 
" Let us abolish all the festival days of God from the 
land," 3 and religion, which, remained for a long time 
among their children, is now dying. Outside of the 
Church of God there is scarcely any religion. The world 
is rapidly going back to paganism. The pride of man 
rebels against his God ! 

I. — Feasts Among the Pagans. 

The word pagan comes from the Latin, and means a 
country town ; for when Constantine, the Emperor, for- 
bade the worship of idols, the heathens retired to the 
little villages, and there, for a time, carried on their 
superstitious practices. From that they were called 
pagans. 4 

1 Exod. xxvi. 2 Book of Leviticus. 3 Ps. lxxiii. 8. 4 Am. Cyclop. Art. Pagan. 



PAGAN NATIONS. 39 

All nations of ancient times, the Jews alone excepted, 
were pagans — worshippers of idols. As far as we are able 
to penetrate the history of the pagan nations, we find 
that all worshipped false gods. Their history before the 
Trojan war is not certain. It is lost in the mists of fable. 1 
Two nations of antiquity left their religious impressions 
on the others ; they are Egypt and Babylon. Erom the 
Egyptians the Greeks and the Eomans learned their 
pagan practices. Erom the Babylonians the people of 
Eastern Asia derived their religions. The Egyptians 
adored Isis and Osiris, with many other divinities. 
They believed the soul would never die. They em- 
balmed the bodies of their dead, with the prayers and 
the ceremonies of their remarkable ritual. A short time 
ago many of the bodies of their dead kings were found 
in a cave.in the mountains in a wonderful state of preserva- 
tion, with records of their funeral rites. 

The pagans, feeling in their hearts that they should 
adore a lord of some kind, worshipped everything. The 
earth, the sea, fire, water, the sun and moon, the stars 
and all the planets were adored. Theatres were the first 
edifices built where the ceremonies of the pagans were 
carried out. 2 They used to celebrate each year the day 
of their birth, the day of the dedication of their temples, 
and the birthday of their gods. 3 Many were the festivals 
and the feasts they dedicated to their divinities. 4 In 
their public processions came the priests, the magistrates, 
fortune tellers, the fifteen heroes crowned with laurel, 
the vestal virgins who guarded the sacred fires, with the 
senators and the pontiffs. Among the Babylonians the 
victories of the army were celebrated. The sculptured 
winged bulls lined the walks leading to their temples. 
The great cities sitting on the banks of the Euphrates and 
the Tigris turned out each festal day to celebrate the 
ceremonies of their gods. Among the ancient peoples of 
India the religious days of feasts and of fasts were held 
each year. On the banks of the Nile temples, grand and 
magnificent, rose before the time of Moses. The dis- 
coveries of to-day are bringing to light these wonders of 
sculpture and of architecture. By the ancient Mexicans 
and Peruvians 2,000 gods were worshipped. The tem- 

1 Arnobius ad. Gentes, 1. 11, 2 St, August. De Civ. Dei, 1. vi., c. 
c. 20. 4 See Arnobius, &c. 



4:0 GREEK AND ROMAN FESTIVALS. 

pies, the pyramids and the public buildings of these 
peoples are being discovered in our times. Among all 
the tribes of the American continent the Great Spirit was 
adored, and received the sacrifice of the white dog. Every 
nation and people worshipped some supreme being, 
showing that by tradition from the garden of paradise 
came down the idea of a God. Corrupted, it is true, was 
the tradition, but still the germ of truth was there. In 
the north of Europe the Druids learned their religion 
from the Greeks and Romans, and held their feasts each 
year. 

Among the Greeks and the Romans the festivals of the 
Bacchanalia, 1 the Strenae, and the Saturnalia were kept. 
The Bacchanalia, held in honor of the god, Bacchus, were 
brought from Egypt to Greece, 2 and afterwards intro- 
duced into the Roman empire. They were held twice 
each year, on the last of February and on the 15th of 
August. In these ceremonies, dedicated to Bacchus, men 
and women ran wild in the streets, the highways, and the 
country, drunk with wine, dressed in the skins of faAvns, 
mules, and wild beasts, with mitres, garlands of ivy and 
vine leaves on their heads, and carrying in their hands 
little lances called Thyrsi ; they went through their wild 
ceremonies to the music of flutes, drums, and rattles. 
Among the Greeks these rites were called Dionysia, from 
the word Dionysius, the Greek for Bacchus or orgy, mean- 
ing fury, for they were wild with wine and liquor. Their 
capital, Athens, was celebrated for these feasts, and there, 
in the spring time each year, they celebrated the honor 
of their great god, Dionysius, within the city ; in the fall 
of the year they held these ceremonies in the country. 3 

The Saturnalia were held in Rome on the 15th of De- 
cember, at last on the seven following days by all the peo- 
ple, but by the women on the 1st of March. Then their 
slaves were treated as their masters. Sometimes the 
nobles waited on their servants or slaves, and allowed 
themselves to be told their faults or insulted by their 
lowest slaves. They said this was done in remembrance 
of the Saturnian age, of Noe, before the division of land, 
or the division of society into aristocrats and common 
people, when all were on a level, the remembrance of 



1 S. Aug. xxxviii. 1.93. 2 Fabri Condones Dom. Quin, Con. iv. n. 1. 3 Schol in 
Aristoph., ad. An., 201, 377. Scaliger de Emend, Temp. L. I., p. 29. 



FESTIVALS INSTITUTED BY THE APOSTLES. 41 

which they celebrated. By the lapse of ages these rites 
degenerated, so that nothing was seen or heard in Eome 
but riot, drunkenness and disorder. Horace calls these 
feasts the "Liberty of December." 1 Business was sus- 
pended, evenings given up to feasting and banqueting, 
and days to learned conferences. The number of persons 
at each banquet was never to be less than three, in honor 
of the three Graces, or more than nine, out of respect of 
the nine Muses. One was chosen king of the feast, glad- 
iators fought and killed each other for the amusement of 
the guests, slaves were allowed to sit at the table with 
their owners, 2 and the masters changed clothes with them, 
and left them complete control of their houses. 3 The 
utmost debauchery and licentiousness were carried on, 
and society was on the brink of ruin. 

The calends of January, 4 or the first days of the new 
year, were given up to the festivals of Strenia, the God- 
dess of Presents. 5 This custom was first introduced by 
Tatian, King of the Sabins, a friend of Bomulus, one of 
the founders of Borne. On this day the people carried 
branches of vervain, cut from the trees of a grove near 
Rome dedicated to Strenia, which were emblems of 
good luck for the coming year. They made presents to 
their friends, especially of slaves to their masters, vassals 
to their lords, and subjects to their rulers. 6 

The first converts of the Apostles abhorred these 
pagan rites. The Church, by her Popes, her Councils, 
and her bishops, condemned these ceremonies. St. Am- 
brose, St. Austin, and the great Fathers preached against 
them. 7 Canons against them were made a part of Canon 
Law. 8 With great difficulty was these heathen rites and 
ceremonies driven from the Christian. Even in our 
times we often hear of good luck, fate, the weather, 
nature, the storm god, fairies, good people, watching the 
rising sun, and so many of the words and customs which 
come down to us from the ancient Greeks and Bomans, 
or from the Druid rites and ceremonies of northern 
Europe. The Apostles began the feasts of the Church 
to entice the people from these debaucheries of the 
pagans. Led by the Holy .Ghost, they instituted the 

1 L. II., Satyr, 7. 2 Rollin Hist, de Rome, t. iv. 3 Athenaeus and Seneca, Ep. iv. 
4 See St. Aug. Serm. xv., in Octava Nat. Dom. No. 1. 5 St. Augus. in 1. de Civit. Dei, 
1. iv., c. 16, t. 7, p. 100. 6 Synmachus L. X. Ep. xx., p. 21. 7 St. Peter Ckrysologus' 
St. Maximus of Turin, St. Fulgentius, &c. s C. 26 non obser, Q. 7 et Si guts ib. 



42 THE SABBATH THE REST OF GOD. 

feasts, the fasts, the seasons, the rites and ceremonies 
of the year, to wipe ont of the mind of man the remains 
of these pagan rites and customs we find still so deeply 
impressed in our nature. 

II. — Feasts among the Jews. 

From the creation God commanded men to set apart 
certain days, certain times, and certain seasons to His 
service and to His worship, that mankind might adore 
his Creator, and that, as the revolving years rolled by, 
the works of the Lord might not be forgotten by the 
children of Adam. 

Thus, from the times when, by the creating hand of 
God, the first man came upon the earth, they kept the 
Sabbath in remembrance of the glorious rest of the 
Eternal in the splendors of the skies. After the works of 
the six great periods of time, called the six days of crea- 
tion, God's omnipotent power and force itself did not 
want to rest. God does not tire. God wants no rest ; 
but man, weak and feeble — man condemned to work — 
man tires with the labors of this life. Man needs rest, 
and God, in His mercy, knew how much man wants rest. 
For that reason He laid down the law of the rest of the 
Sabbath day — rest for man with all his strength and his 
majesty — rest for woman with all her grace and beauty. 

When God created all this universe, he looked from 
out the boundless eternity he inhabits and saw that all 
was good. 1 He blessed the seventh day and called it 
holy. 2 When the children of Adam had scattered over 
the world — when the cultivation of the earth was in its 
infancy — the Patriarchs rested on the Sabbath; their 
temple was the vaulted roof of heaven, their lights the 
sun and moon, their candles the twinkling stars of sky, 
their altars stones piled up on the green hills ; 3 there, in 
those olden days, when the dews of the new made world 
brought life and gladness to the earth, their prayers 
went up toward heaven — in the hope of the promised 
Kedeenier they prayed to their Lord and their Creator, 
God. 

When, amid the lightnings of Sinai, God spoke to His 
people, He told them to keep the Sa*bbath : " Remember 

* Gen. i, a Gen, ii. 3. a Gen. iv. 3, 4, viii. 20, xv. 10. 



THE SABBATH COMMANDED. 43 

that thou keep holy the Sabbath day. Six days shalt 
thou labor and shalt do all thy works. But on the 
seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God : thou 
shalt do no work on it, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daugh- 
ter, nor thy man-servant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy 
beast, nor the stranger that is within thy gates. For in 
six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, 
and all things that are in them, and rested on the seventh 
day: therefore the Lord blessed the seventh day and 
sanctified it." Thus the Sabbath of the Jews was to be 
an everlasting sign to them of the creation of the world 
in six days. 1 "I gave them also my Sabbaths to be a 
sign between me and them." 2 Thus, in the days of the 
Prophets, he renewed that command to keep the Sab- 
bath : " Sanctify my Sabbaths that they may be a sign 
between me and you." 3 

In commanding such an absolute rest from all work, 
God knew the nature of man, for he made him ; and if 
man had no time for rest —if his hands were to be forever 
turned toward the earth in work, his soul would turn to 
earthly things, he could no more look upward toward 
heaven, his home. The Sabbath was then a time set 
apart by God, when man was to turn from earthly things 
to the things of the world beyond the skies, when his 
thoughts would rise toward heaven and be bedewed by 
the grace of God. 

The Sabbath among the Jews was strictly kept. 
Silence and repose dwelt in the homes of Israel. They 
were called to the tabernacle and to the temple by the 
sounds of the morning trumpets. There they gathered 
to pray together. They turned their faces toward the 
altar. They sung the praises of their Lord. The smoke 
of incense ascended on high. Myrrh and aloes burned 
on the altar of perfumes. The red blood of the victims 
flowed on the altar of holocaust. Oil and wine were 
poured out in sacrifices. The priests placed the new 
preposition bread on the table in the Holies ; the people 
outside, the priest within ; all the children of Abraham 
bowed their heads in prayer, while from the choirs of 
priests and Levites, flowed the sweetly sounding songs of 
poetry. Praises to the Lord ascended toward heaven, ac- 

* Exod. xx. 8, 9. 10, 11. 2 Ezech. xx. 12, 3 lb. 30. 



44 THE SABBATH YEAR. 

companied with the music of the harp, the zither, 
the psalter, the cymbals and the silver trumpets, all 
raised the hearts and the souls of the children of 
Israel toward the throne of their Lord and their Creator, 
God. 

The Hebrews had not only their Sabbath, but their 
many other feasts during the year, ordered to be kept by 
the Lord as a remembrance of their history, and to bring 
before their minds the wonders of their deliverance, in 
which by the miracles of God's power he led them from 
the land of Egypt and from the house of bondage. 

They had their Sabbath year, 1 which came each 
seventh year, set apart by the Lord for liberty, for rest 
and for prayer. They had their year of jubilee, 2 which 
came at the end of seven times seven years, or at the end 
of each forty -nine years, that by the seventh day, by the 
seventh year, and by the seven week of years, they might 
keep before their minds that in the seven days the Lord 
created all. These were years of rest given to man and 
to the earth. What then the earth brought forth be- 
longed to the first who plucked the fruit. The branches 
bent under their loads, the grapes hung from the vines, 
the olives dropped from the trees, the grain sprung from 
the earth, nature was loaded with abundance, and all was 
owned in common. The poor could take from the fields 
of the rich, while man and nature rested in these years. 
The poor, the oppressed, and the unfortunate, rejoiced at 
the coming of these times, which delivered them from 
debts, which gave the slaves their liberty, which gave 
them back their lands, and broke whatever bonds had 
pressed upon them. 

The Sabbath year among the Hebrews began and 
ended on the first of September, 3 so that they could reap 
the harvest of the sixth and prepare for the sowing of 
the seed in the spring time of the eighth year, when the 
year of rest was ended. Thus, in the midst of the pass- 
ing times, God set apart these years of rest, that they 
might learn of the endless time prepared by him for all 
the good, in the years of the rest of eternity beyond the 
tomb. That they might see his power, these years of 
jubilee were years of plenty ; at no other time were the 

1 Levit. xxy. 4. 2 Levit. xxv. 10. 3 Levit. xxv. 9, 



EATING THE PASCHAL LAMB. 45 

fruits so abundant, the harvest so large, 1 or the earth so 
plentiful in that land flowing with milk and honey, as the 
years when the rich and the poor, the high and low, par- 
took of the bounty of their God. 

Their Easter 2 came before theii other feasts. 3 It was 
the great anniversary of their flight from Egypt ; of the 
day when Israel was delivered from the house of the 
Pharaohs, 4 the day which saw their bonds broken; the day 
when they took up their march toward the promised 
land 5 — that promised land a figure of our promised heaven. 
To remind them that their life in this world was but a 
journey, they were commanded to eat, that day, the 
paschal lamb. 6 They were told to eat it standing, their 
loins bound up, their feet sandled, their staffs in their 
hands, for they were like all men, travellers in this world, 
travelling toward their home in heaven. The Hebrew 
word for that feast was the Phase, 7 that is, the Passover — 
that is the passage, their passage from the slavery of 
Egypt to the liberty of the Lord; passage that is the pas- 
sage of the avenging angel, who killed the first-born of 
the Egyptians whose houses were not marked with the 
blood of the paschal lamb, a figure of the blood of Christ. 8 
They kept that feast the fourteenth of the first month of 
Ab, our March. 9 They began that feast between the two 
vespers, when the sun had gone down half way in the 
western sky, while on the morrow commenced these 
grand ceremonies in their houses, in their cities and in 
their tabernacles, and in their temple, which lasted for a 
week. Each family took a lamb, 10 a lamb without blot or 
blemish. 11 The head of the family sacrificed the victim ; 
they sprinkled the lintels of the doors of their houses 
with its blood. The angel saw the blood and passed. 12 
They broke no bones, 13 for the paschal lamb was but a 
figure of the Lamb of God, our Saviour, by whose blood 
we are saved from the angel of darkness, and because 
Christ's bones were not broken when he was crucified. 14 

Fifty days from their Easter they held the feast of 
Pentecost 15 in remembrance of the law God gave from 
Sinai's top amid the thunders and lightnings of heaven, 

1 Levit. xxv. 21. 2 Levit. xxiii. 5. 3 Exod. xii. 11. 4 Dutripon, Concord, Bib. S. 
Phase. 5 Exod. xii. 37. 6 Exod. xii. 11. 7 Exod. xii. 11. » Exod. xii. 29. 9 Exod. 
xii. 6. J0 Josephus, Antiq. B. iii. c. x.. n. 5. 21 Exod. xii. 5. 12 Exod. xii. 13. 
1 3 Exod. xii. 46. ] 4 John xix. 36. 15 Levit. xxii. 16 ; Josephus Antiq. B. iii., c. x., n. 6. 



46 MANY JEWISH FEASTS. 

when Moses entered the cloud, and for forty days lived 
with Jehovah, when he saw the model of the taber- 
nacle, when he received the tables of the commandments, 
and when he was told by the mouth of the Lord the way 
to lay down those grand ceremonies of the people of 
Israel. From their Easter to their Pentecost were seven 
weeks, and for that reason they called it the Feast of 
weeks. 

They had the Feast of the Trumpets, 1 both beginning 
and ending the year. As the day is the most beautiful 
at its beginning and at its ending, so the Lord appointed 
the beginning and the ending of the years to be kept 
holy by his people. At the clarion tone of the silver 
trumpets, the children of Israel came from their homes ; 
they gathered at the door of the tabernacle and of the tem- 
ple, and there they offered sacrifices to the Lord for his 
benefits sh owered down on them during the year which had 
passed, and prayed for his grace and his favor for the year 
which was beginning. 

They had the Feast of the New Moon, at the begin- 
ning of each month. All were not forbidden to work, 
but the good and the godly of the Jewish nation gathered 
at the temple, and at the sound of the trumpets, there 
they offered sacrifices to their God. 

They had the Feast of the Expiation, 2 a day of rest on 
the sixteenth day of the month of Tizri, our September, 
which among the Jews began the civil year — a day called 
in their Hebrew, pardon, for it was given them by God as 
a day when they were to ask pardon of the Lord for their 
sins. In those days, taught by Moses, the man of God, 
they knew that sorrow for sin and repentance for wicked- 
ness was the only way of gaining forgiveness. On that 
day of Expiation Israel, like one man, bowed their heads 
before the Lord. They waited till a few drops of the 
blood of the sacrificial victim fell upon their bended forms 
to wash them from their sins. The High Priest washes 
not only his hands and feet, as for the other sacrifices, 
but he plunges his whole body into the laver standing 
before the tabernacles. Coming forth purified, he clothes 
himself in robes of white linen, 3 his garments of gold 
and splendor are laid aside, the splendors of the cere- 

1 Levit. xxiii. 24. 2 Levit. xvi. et xxiii. 27. 8 Levit. xvi. 32. 



FEAST OF THE ATONEMENT. 47 

monies are seen no more. That day, robed in simple 
linen, he approaches the altar of his God. He immolates 
a sacrificial bull and ram for his own sins and for the sins 
of the other priests. Putting his hands on the victims, 
he confesses his sins and the sins of his household. He 
receives from the princes of the tribes, and of the houses 
of Israel, two goats for sin, and a ram to be offered as a 
holocaust for all the people. They draw lots to see which 
of the goats will be sacrificed, which will be set at 
liberty. The High Priest now takes the fire from the 
altar of the holocaust, and with it lights the thurible of 
gold. He pours upon the blazing fire the precious in- 
cense of the East, and while the clouds of the sweetly 
smelling perfumes are wafted heavenward, and fill the 
Holies with their fragrance, he enters in behind the veil. 
He penetrates into the sanctuary of che Lord of Hosts, 
and there he offers up his prayers to the God of his 
fathers. His prayer is over. 

Coming forth he draws near to the altar of holocaust, 
where he offers the goat on which the lot had fallen as a 
sacrifice to the Lord ; taking the blood of the young bull 
in a golden vessel, he carries it behind the veil, into the 
Holy of Holies, where dipping his fingers seven times 
in the blood, he sprinkles seven times 1 the Arch of the 
Covenant. He comes again from the Holy of Holies. 
He takes the blood of the immolated goat and sprinkles 
the Holy of Holies, the Holy and the Porch with 
the blood. All this time he is alone in the presence of 
his God; no priest, no server is with him; the priests, 
the Levites and the people are without and see him 
not. 

When all these ceremonies are ended, they lead to him 
the scape-goat, 2 and after having placed his hands on the 
head of the animal, he confesses his sins and the sins of 
the whole people, and the scape-goat, loaded with the 
sins of the priests and the people of Israel, wanders in 
the wilderness 3 and is seen no more by men ; or, accord- 
ing to some, he was pushed off a high precipice and 
perished. 

They had the Feast of the Tabernacles, 4 like the Feast 
of Corpus Christi among us ; the happy feast, the poetic 

1 Josephus, Antiq. B. iii., c. x., n. 3. 2 Levit xvi. 20. 8 Levit. xvi. 21. 4 Josephus 
Antiq. B. iii., ex., n. 4 ; Levit. xxiii. 34. 



48 FEAST OF THE TABEKNACLES. 

feast, tlie feast of flowers, of fields, of joy and gladness, for 
it is the day of the procession of the Blessed Sacrament. 
That day among the people of Israel was kept to recall 
to their minds the times when they dwelt in tents, when 
they journeyed in the desert, when without cities, with- 
out houses, without lands, they travelled in the wilder- 
ness, where the hand of the Lord guided them. In keep- 
ing that day holy, they were reminded of the times of 
their march through the country of the Moabites, 
through the deserts of Arabia, through the lands of the 
Amalekites; of the pillar of cloud by day, of the pillar 
of fire by night; of the waters flowing from the rock 
struck by Moses ; of the manna falling from the heavens ; 
of the miraculous flight of quails ; of the cure of the 
brazen serpent, and of the wonders with which, by a 
strong hand, the Lord led them through the wilderness 
to the promised land. All these were recalled to their 
minds by the Feast of the Tabernacles. "With joy and 
gladness, then, the children of Jacob celebrated this 
feast in the declining days of the fall, when the land was 
covered with a bountiful harvest, when the descendants of 
Abraham went forth from their houses of stone, went 
forth from their cities surrounded with walls, went forth 
into the green fields, went forth to raise their tents under 
the twinkling stars of heaven, under the balmy air of 
Palestine, amid the blooming flowers of the fields, amid 
the cascades of the mountains, amid the cooling shade 
of the forests, there they clothed themselves in white. 1 
There they sang their songs of gladness, there they 
chanted their hymns of praises, there their young men 
went into the woods by the sides of the torrents, there , 
they plucked the branches of the palm trees, the boughs 
of the olives, the leaves of the wild grapes, the flowers 
of the valley, and, loaded with their burdens, they ran to 
their fathers, carrying their burdens, where all the family 
together lined their tents with flowers, they hung before 
their doors or spread upon the floors the fragrant boughs, 
or the green leaves, or the fragrant flowers. Thus they 
decked their tents and homes, where for seven days and 
seven nights they dwelt in tents according to the com- 
mands of God. 

1 Josephus Antiq., B. xiii., c. xi., n. 3. 



BEAUTIFUL FEASTS. 49 

How beautiful were these feasts of old when Israel 
loved the Lord their God. In the plains of Idumia, from 
across the banks of the Jordan, from the borders of Moab, 
from the hills of Samaria, from every part of the land 
of Israel came the long lines of men and women, the 
young and old, the rich and poor, the princes and the 
leaders of the tribes, all came to the feasts of the year, to 
the temple of Jerusalem, and to the sanctuary of the Lord 
of Hosts. They carried their first born, they brought 
their offerings, they gave their first fruits, all was carried 
out according to the law laid down by their leader Moses. 

Each morning and evening they gathered around the 
altar 1 and sacrificed a lamb. 2 The priests poured out 
their libations of wine and of oil ; they drew the limpid 
waters from the fountain of Siloe, while the high-priest, 
robed in the color of hyacinth bordered with the golden 
bells, 3 prayed for the sins of his people, while the people 
without shook their palms and cried to the Lord, Ho- 
sanna ! Hosanna ! from whence it was called the feast of 
Hosanna of Palms. 

Again on the 14th day of the month of Adar, they had 
the feast of Purim, 4 in remembrance of their deliverance 
from Aman. 5 On that day they drew their lots, and be- 
fore coming to the place they always gave the poor their 
offerings, placing them in an urn beside the one wherein 
they cast their lots. 

In after years they celebrated the day 6 when the valiant 
woman Judith cut the head from the wicked Holofer- 
nes ; and generations after that noble lady of Bethulia 
was gathered to her fathers in the tombs of Manasas, 7 
when the day of their deliverance came round, they kept 
the feast in her remembrance. 8 

When the centuries rolled by, and the temple built by 
Solomon was burned by Nabuchodonosor, and rebuilt by 
Darius, when it was dedicated to the Lord, they 9 kept the 
feast of the dedication of the temple, 10 of the death of 
Nicanor, the 13th day of the month of Adar, 11 of the find- 
ing of the holy fire, of the feast of Xylophore, when they 
carried in the wood of sacrifice to the temple and held 
their sacrifices in honor of these days. 



1 Exod. xxix. 2 Josephus Antiq. J. B. iii., c. x., n. 1. 3 Exod xxviii. 33, 34. 4 Es- 
ther ix. 17. 5 Esther ix. 6 Judith xvi. 31. 7 Judith xvi. 28. 8 Judith xvi. 31. 
9 I. Esdras vi. 16. 10 Josephus Antiq., B. vii., c. viii., n. 7. n 1 Mach. xv. 36, 37. 



50 CHRISTIAN FEASTS. 

Those were days beloved to God and man, days of re- 
ligion and of patriotism, days when they honored the 
graves of their forefathers, when they loved the laws of 
their ancestors, when they honored God in sacrifices and 
in prayers. 

III. — Feasts among the Christians. 

When we go from our houses to the church, when we 
turn our steps to that house of God, to that temple where 
our forefathers worshipped, where our fathers and our 
mothers were married, where we were baptized, where our 
mothers taught us bend our knees in prayer, where the 
bishop confirmed us, and where each Sunday and holiday 
we heard the masses offered, as we pass by the way we 
admire the sunshine decking the landscape, we love the 
bright leaves with colors of gold, we smell the perfumes 
of the fragrant air, we admire the tints of the blooming 
flowers, but hbove all we more love the church of our 
fathers, the church founded by our Lord, the church tak- 
ing the place of the temple of old, the church now saving 
the fallen race ; and before we come to her feasts and to 
her festivals, we passed through the feasts of the Jews, 
for they were but figures of ours — they were but like 
shadowy forms, formed by the Lord in the days of old to 
prepare the world for the feasts of the church of God — to 
prepare for these grand and magnificent festivals of the 
Catholic Church — to prepare for temples grander than 
Solomon's — to prepare the nations for the salvation of the 
Gospel. 

From the days of the Apostles the Church set apart 
certain times, certain seasons, and certain days for the 
worship of the Lord, so that each year, like a living scene, 
brings before us the life, the mysteries, the doctrines, the 
benefits, the obligations and the promises of the redemp- 
tion of the human race by our Saviour Jesus Christ. 
Such is the Ecclesiastical year. It is to keep before the 
minds of men the boundless love of God, shown forth 
from the beginning of the world to the coming of Christ, 
to remind us of His incarnation, His satisfaction and 
His glorification, and in the year of his life will be ever 
shown as well as the redemption, the sanctification and 
the salvation of the children of Adam. Thus the Chris- 
tian year is a living gospel of the crucified. Thus Christ 



CHRISTIAN SEASONS. 51 

is preached to the people ; Christ and His works are ever 
before their eyes ; the Church in her festivals renews for- 
ever the life, works, and the death of her founder and her 
Redeemer, in the feasts, the fasts, and the festivals and 
the seasons of the year. 1 

The object of the Apostles in the ecclesiastical year 
was to teach the people the truths of the Christian 
religion by the many ceremonies and the services of 
the Church; to keep before their minds the works of 
the Lord during his life; to let them see in outward 
forms and rites what they believed in their hearts ; to 
shower down on them the benefits and graces of the re- 
demption; to restore, to preserve, and to increase in them 
sanctifying grace, and thus to keep them from sin, make 
them holy, happy, and give them the aids and the means 
of attaining heaven. 2 

The chief joyful seasons are Christmas, for which Ad- 
vent is a preparation ; Easter, for which Lent is a prep- 
aration ; and the After-Pentecost season, lasting till the 
first Sunday of Advent. At Christmas we celebrate the 
boundless love of the Father in sending His Son to re- 
deem the world; at Easter we commemorate the unspeak- 
able love of the Son, dying for our sins, and rising from 
the grave when He redeemed us from the power of the 
devil ; while at Pentecost we yearly renew the memory of 
the Holy Ghost coming down on the Apostles. Thus 
these three chief festivals of the year are dedicated to 
the three most holy persons of the Trinity. 

The three fasting seasons are : Advent, the time of 
prayer and of waiting for the coming of our Lord ; Lent, 
the time of fasting and of penance for our sins, and the 
Holy Week, the time of mourning for the sufferings and 
the death of Christ. The other principal seasons are : 
Christmas, Septuagesima, Easter, and the after Pentecost 
seasons. The year then is made of seasons, feasts, fes- 
tivals, Sundays, fast days and week days. 

Sunday, the Lord's day 3 and the Christian Sabbath, is 
the first day of the week. One day of the week is thus 
kept holy, because God rested one day; 4 because it is 
right that man should give one day of the" week to the 

1 Coffin, Dev. Instr. on the Epist. and Gosp., p. 13. 2 Coffin, lb., p. 14, Conciones 
Fabri Dom. 1, post. Epiph. con. vii. 3 S. Aug. Sermo c, lxix. ; De Ver. Ap. Phil. iii. 
n. 3. * Gen. ii. 2. 



52 SANCTIFYING SUNDAY. 

service of the Lord, and to his soul's salvation ; because a 
day of rest and of prayer is good for man, lest he might 
be led astray by passion, by the love of the world, or 
waste his time in work, unless wakened from his forget- 
fulness of God and called to the service of his Creator. 
The first day of the week was kept holy by the Apostles, 1 
to show that Jews and Christians were not the same ; to 
tell that on the first day of the week the Lord began the 
creation ; 2 to remind us that Christ, on Sunday, was cir- 
cumcised, baptised, began his public life, changed water 
into wine, gave the power of forgiving sin, 3 rode into 
Jerusalem on an ass, rose from the dead, appeared to his 
disciples, and that on that day the Holy Spirit came 
down on the Apostles. For these reasons, from the very 
beginning of the Church, the Apostles set apart the first 
day of the week, and called it holy to the Lord. 4 

All members of the Church, when they come to the 
age of reason, are obliged to hear Mass on Sundays and 
holidays, unless grave reasons prevent. 5 They are 
obliged to stop all servile work on that day. 6 No other 
obligation has the Church imposed on the people, 7 as a 
strict law, but all are to spend the Lord's day in a holy 
way, as becomes good Christians ; but those who cannot b'e 
at the Mass are not obliged to say the prayers at Mass in 
their houses, but they should hear the sermon if they can. 

These are what we are to do if we keep strictly to the 
letter of the law ; but any one who looks into the spirit of 
the Church will see that it is to be kept wholly dedi- 
cated to the service of the Lord and to the interest of our 
salvation. We sanctify the day by assisting at the pub- 
lic services of the Church and at Vespers, if we can. s If 
we cannot go to the Church, we should at home spend 
the day in prayer, in reading some good book, in making 
frequent acts of love of God, of faith, hope, charity, and 
of contrition, and thus prepare ourselves for the tempta- 
tions of the coming week. Above all, we ask the reader 
to make a practice of going to Communion one Sunday 
of every month, or even oftener, as the most perfect way 
of gaining their salvation. Sunday is broken by un- 
necessary work and servile labor, by neglecting Mass, by 

1 See S. Aug. Epist. lv., n. 21. 2 Gen. i. 1. 3 Bellarmine T. ii., 1. 2. 4 See Syriac 
Doc. concerning Edessa Teaching of the Apost. c. 1, &c. 5 C. Mis. 64 De Con. Di*t. 
I., can. 68 and Ex. Jur. Can. passim. fi Dec. L. 2, Tit. 9, C. I. and many other Councils. 
7 Suarez De Relig. T. I. L. 2, C. 16, N. 4. 8 Concil. Trent., ses. xxiv. de Ref. c. 4 et 13. 



YEARLY FEASTS. 53 

idleness, intemperance, plays, dances ; really it would be 
better to spend the day at work than to give that holy 
day up to sinful pleasures. 1 The servile works spoken of 
here, are the works of manual labor, which cannot be put 
off*till another day ; while the works which must be done 
on that day, as the arranging of the house, the care of 
cattle and the like, are allowed. 

Besides Sundays, the feasts to be kept holy like the 
Sunday are, in this country, the Immaculate Conception, 
Christmas, New Year's Day, Epiphany, Ascension Thurs- 
day, the Annunciation, Corpus Christi, the Assumption 
and All Saints. Besides these, there are other days not 
so important, during which the people are not obliged to 
hear Mass or spend the day as Sunday. They are days 
dedicated to some mystery of our Lord, to his Mother, or 
to his saints, but which are commemorated in the 
breviary, so that each year an office is said to commem- 
orate some truth or some mystery of our holy religion. 

The day before the great holiday is called the Vigil, or 
the Eve, and it is the day we set apart to prepare our- 
selves for the coming feast. As we should prepare for 
the celebration of the festal days by works of penance, 
the eves or vigils of feasts generally are days of praver 
and fasting. 

And when the joyful day of the feast comes, the time 
of its celebration is lengthened for eight days, and that 
is what we call an Octave. All the great feast days of 
the Church have octaves. 

Fasting is of two kinds : fasting from meat and fasting 
from food. We fast from meat on all Fridays of the year, 
and we fast from food and meat in Advent, Lent, on Em- 
ber days or Quarter Tenses and Yigils. These matters, 
besides having been regulated by the universal laws of 
the Church, are left to the authority of the bishops in 
their diocese to decide who are exempt from these regu- 
lations ; but even a doctor can declare persons free from 
the obligation of fasting, where he sees that they are not 
strong. The Church is a mother, and never makes laws 
which her children cannot bear. 

That the Church has the power to make and to change 
the feasts of the year, is seen by the words of the Lord 
to his Apostles : " Whatsoever thou shalt bind upon earth 

* St. Augustine, 



54 POWEES OF THE CHUBCH. 

it shall be bound also in heaven, and whatsoever thou shalt 
loose on earth shall be loosed also in heaven." 1 This 
power means the making, changing and the regulating of 
the feasts of the year. As the priests of the old law 
had the same power, that authority the Church has 
had from the very beginning; for we see that the 
Apostles commanded the early Christians not to eat 
things strangled or to use blood, 2 so that the Jews, who 
had a prejudice against these things, would not be turned 
away from joining the Church. When this occasion had 
passed away, they then changed the law. 3 The mind of 
the Church in appointing fast days is, that her children, 
in mortifying their taste, might overcome their evil 
inclinations ; that by fasting they might do penance for 
their sins ; that they might become more fervent in prayer 
and meditations ; that by overcoming their desires they 
might gain greater strength in God's service, that they 
might be turned from the pleasures of this world, and 
thus think of the joys beyond the grave. That fasting is 
good for the soul is shown by many parts of the Holy 
Scriptures. For forty days Moses fasted on the Mount ;' 
for forty days Elias fasted 5 in his journey; for forty days 
prophets went without food, and for forty years the peo- 
ple of the Lord lived on manna in the desert ; thus the 
great ones of old fasted to give us an example how to do 
penance for our sins. 6 

Thus, as we go through the cycle of the year, we find 
these seasons, these times, these festivals, these days and 
these anniversaries, like so many yearly scenes of the life 
of our Lord, of his blessed Mother, of his saints and of 
his servants, coming ever and ever before our minds, re- 
calling to us as the years roll by, the works of the crea- 
tion, the fall of man, the law of Moses, the prophecies, 
the coming, the miracles, the life, the death, the resur- 
rection, the ascension of our Saviour, the coming of the 
Holy Ghost, the preaching of the Apostles, and the lives 
of the saints and the servants of God, who continue the 
work of the redemption of the race. Thus, as we keep 
the anniversary of a great event — as each nation has its 
holidays, when they celebrate their founding, when they 
honor their birthdays, when they renew the day of their 



1 Matt. xvi. 19. 2 Acts xv. 20 3 Concil Jerusalem iv. in 52 4 Exod. xxiv. 18. 
P III. Kings xix. 8. 6 Coffin, Devout Inst, on the Ep. and Gosp., pp. 20 and 21. 



THE SUN AND MOON. 55 

birth as a nation, when men keep the anniversary of their 
marriage — thus the Church, founded by the Saviour, lest 
the world might forget him, forget him and his works, 
forget him and his redemption, as the seasons and the 
years roll on toward the end of time — that Church has 
from the beginning kept these days, to wake the world 
from its slumbers, to call the people to her services, to 
renew the mysteries of the Lord of the mighty ones of 
old raised by his all-powerful hand, to do the wonders 
of his power in the saving of the race. 

Thus from the days of the foundation of the Church, 
from the days when the Apostles went forth to spread 
the light of the gospel to the nations in the darkness of 
death, they took the year and set apart those times, those 
days, to renew his coming and his death. For that reason 
there are two kinds of feasts, one kind falling on fixed days 
of the year, which change not. They come on the same 
day of the month, and we can always tell their date. 
We know that Christmas comes on the twenty-fifth of 
December, New Year's Day on the first of January, and 
so of many others. They change not, for they are marked 
by the motions of the sun. Again, they marked out an- 
other kind of feast to celebrate his glories. These feasts 
happen not on the same times or days as the others. 
They are the seasons of Advent and of Lent, of Easter, 
of Pentecost, and of the other changing feasts. They 
are ruled by the moon, whose movements regulate the 
changing feasts of the year. Thus the Apostles took the 
sun and moon to mark the seasons, the times and the 
feasts of the year, following the work of God, who made 
the sun and moon " to divide the day and night, and let 
them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for 
years." 1 

IV. — The Public Offices of the Church. 

Prayers offered to God are of two kinds— private and 
public. Private prayers are the supplication offered to 
God by any one praying in his own name, and for a bene- 
fit which he expects alone to receive. Thus when we 
pray in private — when we kneel down at our bedside, 
morning and evening — when the whole family prays, or 
when any number, no matter how many may be present, 

» Gen, i. 11 



56 PUBLIC PRAYERS. 

it is only a private prayer. It is true they may be heard 
by God, and the Lord may grant the prayer, as he always 
hears the words of his creatures, but still it is a private 
prayer. A public prayer 1 is when the whole Church 
prays, when the bride of the Lamb offers up her suppli- 
cations to the throne of grace. Then a private prayer is 
one offered by any one or by any number of people, while 
a public prayer is one offered by the whole Church. 

The public prayers of the whole Church are called its 
Liturgy, from the Greek, meaning belonging to the people 
or a public matter. Liturgy is also called Bite, and 
means about the same thing. There are nine Liturgies or 
rites, according to which the jjublic prayers of the Church 
are held throughout the world to-day. The Latin Bite is 
the chief, and, as it were, the mother of all the others. 
In all parts of the west of Europe and throughout the 
American continent the services of the Church are accord- 
ing to the Latin Eite or Liturgy. 

The other Eites and Liturgies will be mentioned in the 
following pages only in order to better explain the" great 
Latin Eite. All writers say that the Latin Eite was 
formed by the Apostles at Jerusalem, before their sep- 
aration, and that it was first brought to Eome by St. 
Peter, when he left Antioch and came to fix his chair as 
first Pope in Eome. 

The two principal books we will mention belonging to 
the Latin Eite are the Breviary and the Missal. The 
breviary is the book containing the public prayers said 
by all the clergy, either alone or all together, assembled 
in the choir. The missal, or mass book, is used by the 
clergy at the masses during the year. The offices of 
mass and of the breviary form the public prayers of the 
Church. From every mass offered throughout the world 
comes the grace of God into the hearts of the people. It 
is the sacrifice of the Son of God ascending ever up be- 
fore the throne of God. It is the continuation of the 
sacrifice of the cross. It is the highest act of man. No 
tongue can tell the depths of its mysteries. No pen can 
describe its wonders. No angel can understand its mean- 
ings. It is the offering of the human race to the god- 
head. It is, by its very nature, a public prayer of the 

1 Mentioned by S. Aug. De Unit. Eccl., n. 54, Contra crescon, Don. 1., iii., n. 33. 
Brev. Col. cum Donat, n. 31, 32, &c. 



58 OBIGIN OF THE BKEVIAEY. 

whole Church. 1 Every mass brings down grace, but the 
celebrant who offers and the one for whom it is cele- 
brated receive the largest amount of that grace. Those 
who are present receive more grace than those who are 
absent, for they assist, take part, and make a part of the 
congregation. 

Every time a clergyman says the Office of the Breviary 
he prays not as a private, but as a public officer of the 
Church. His office, then, is a public prayer of the 
whole Church. He can say his prayers in private like 
any other person ; but the prayers of his breviary are 
public, for he prays not as a private person, but as the 
public minister of the whole Church, and the universal 
Church prays through him. In the Middle Ages many 
of the good and pious people, at their death, or even 
while living, left sufficient means to support clergymen 
for the purpose of oiiering masses and saying the 
breviary to honor God, and to bring down the grace of 
heaven on the people or on the nation. 

The origin of the Breviary goes back to the beginning 
of the Christian religion. 2 In the early days of the 
Apostles the people used to rise during the night to sing 
the praises of the Lord. On ordinary days they rose 
once, and before the great feasts three times: 3 From 
that custom they called these night watches, nocturns, 
from the Latin, meaning watches during the night. For 
that reason the first Office of the Breviary is divided on 
ordinary days into one nocturn, and on the Sundays and 
feasts into three nocturns. During the night, with only 
one nocturn or watch, they sang many psalms, and when 
they had three nocturns they sang three psalms at each, 
making nine psalms in all. After the psalms of the first 
nocturn they read a part of the Old Testament ; after the 
psalms of the second, a lesson from the writings of the 
holy fathers of the Church ; and the psalms of the third 
closed with a few words from the New Testament with 
an explanation. In the cathedrals these Offices were 
sung at regular hours by the canons, clergymen next in 
rank to the bishops, and from that they were called the 
Canonical Hours. Some time rolled by and these watches 
were discontinued in the night, but said in the early 

1 See Concil Tredent Ses. xxii., c. vi. 2 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. ssvi. de las 
Horas en Particular. 3 El Porque de las Ceremonias Ibidem. 



BEADING THE BREVIARY. 59 

from that they were called Matins, from the 
ancient pagan name, Matuta Dea, the goddess of morn- 
ing, 1 sometimes also called Aurora. The lessons began 
with the Lord's Prayer, and the whole Office of Matins 
ended with the grand canticle, " Thee, O God, we praise," 
composed by SS. Augustin and Ambrose. Following the 
Apostolic times Lauds were called matins, for they were 
chanted at the Aurora, the break of day ; and what we 
now call Matins were sung or said during the night. In 
the matins many allusions are made to the night, while 
in the Lauds, suggestions of the rising sun are given. 
We find many of the oldest saints mention these Offices. 
St. Jerome says, "At night we rise twice or three times." 2 
Many of the clergy of the religious orders keep these 
ancient customs, while the clergy who have parishes and 
the care of souls could not attend to their duties and be 
disturbed from their sleep to sing. The secular clergy 
then say these Offices during the day. The Carmelites 
rise in the early part of the night, the Carthusians a little 
later, the Mendicants at midnight, the Benedictines and 
Cisterians after midnight, and many canons at an early 
hour. 3 

Each psalm of the Office ends with the Doxology, 
"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the 
Holy Ghost. 4 As it was in the beginning, and is now, 
and will be forever and ever." The whole of the psalms 
before the lessons were finished by a pious sentence called 
the " vircicle," because when saying it they turned toward 
the altar, "versus altar." The bishop, or the one who 
presided, said the Lord's Prayer, in which all joined. 

Matins are followed by Lauds, praises to the Lord, 
which were sung at the break of day when matins were 
said at night. As remains of these old customs, Matins 
and Lauds must be said before Mass unless prevented 
by some good reason. 

Lauds have many beautiful hymns composed by many 
of the great saints, 5 and as they are very numerous, we 
cannot give their authors. The Little Hours, Prime, 
Terce, Sext and None follow Lauds. St. Gregory the 
Great is the author of the hymn of Prime, and St. Am- 

1 Mentioned by S.Aug. DeCivit, Dei, l.xviii., c. xiv. 2 Jerome Lit. ad Eustochiam. 
3 Canon Pope, Holy Week in the Vatican, pp. 71, 72. 4 By order of Pope Damasus. 
5 El Porque de las Cremonias, c. xxv. de las Horas Canonicas. 



60 EEBIALS AND EVES. 

brose composed the hymns of the three other Little 
Hours. Yespers, 1 from the Latin, for evening star, is said 
in the afternoon, followed by Complin, meaning to com- 
plete, for by that Office the prayer of the day is com- 
pleted. 

The public Offices of the Church are of different 
grades according to their solemnity and importance. 
They are the ferial, the simple, the semi-double, the 
double, the double of the second class, and the double of 
the first class. 

The word ferial comes from the Latin, and means a 
day when we are free, or a holiday. Some authors think 
it comes from the pagan custom of keeping certain days 
in honor of their gods ; but it rather comes from the 
Jewish law, for we see 2 that they had many classes of 
feasts during the year which they kept holy. The early 
Christians called the first day of the week the Lord's 
day, and named the others, except Saturday, the first 
ferial, the second ferial, etc., which was confirmed by 
Pope Silvester. 3 The word ferial means to be free, for 
the clergy are always free to devote their time to the 
service of the Lord/ A ferial comes when there is no 
feast celebrated, or no octave, or the Office of the Virgin 
on Saturday. 5 The ferials are divided into two classes — 
major and minor ferials. The major offices are either 
said or at least a remembrance must be made of them. 
They are the ferials of Advent, Lent, Quatre Tenses, and 
some of the Rogation days. 6 All the other ferials are 
minor. The eves of the great feasts are like ferials. 
The eves are to prepare the people, by fasting and 
prayer, for the worthy celebration of the following feast. 
The Eves come from the most ancient times, when the 
people used to sjoend the greater part of the night in the 
churches in prayer and fasting, preparing for the feast. 
Formerly, on the Eves, all the people fasted, but the ob- 
ligation was taken away by a decree of Clement XIV. 7 
We do not fast on the Eves of Epiphany and Ascension, 8 
because they fall in seasons of joy and gladness. 

A simple office comes when we celebrate ferial days 
and on days of little importance. Like the ferials they 

1 S. Aug., Epist. xxix. n. 11. 2 Levit. xxiii. 3 In Brev. 31 December. 4 De Herdt 
S. Lit., vol. 1, n. 23. 5 Rub. i. 6 St. Liguori D. Cserem, Mis., c. v., n. 15, nota 27- 
7 22 June, 1771, 8 De Herd, S. Lit., vol. 1, n. 23. 



0KIGIN OF THE CALENDAR 61 

have only one nocturn, and the whole office is made up 
of the ferial and of the office of the feast celebrated. 1 

The semi-double stands, as it were, half way between 
the simple and the double. Many of the Sundays and 
the days within octaves are of this class. They are cele- 
brated with more solemnity than the lower feasts. 

The double is the next class of feasts above the semi- 
doubie. They are called double, because of their higher 
dignity. Most of the feasts of the saints are of this class. 
The feasts of greater importance are named major 
doubles. 

The doubles of the second class belong to many feasts 
of importance, as New Year's, Feast of the Holy Name, 
and many of the feasts of our Lord and of his mother. 

All the great feasts of the year are doubles of the first 
class, and they are celebrated with the greatest pomp 
and grandeur. 

The public offices of the Church are regulated by the 
calendar. The sun regulates the fixed or immovable 
feasts, which fall each year on the same day of the 
month ; and the moon regulates the changing or movable 
feasts, wlrch fall on the same day of the week. As the 
motions of the sun and moon are not regular, but change 
from time to time, the calendar is the average or mean 
time of their motions. 

In order to understand the matter better, let us go into 
history before the time of Christ. The moon goes around 
the earth twelve times in about 354^- days, while the 
earth goes around the sun once in a little more than 365 
days. The twelve months of moons and the twelve 
months of the year do not then agree. The twelve 
months of the Romans made the year of 365 days. Not 
agreeing with the true year, at length things got so 
mixed up that, under the pagan priests, who had the 
regulation of these things, the months of spring once 
came in the midst of summer. 

Meton, of Athens, 439 before Christ, thought that in 
19 years the motions of the sun and moon would agree, 
and he made his calendar according to that ; but in these 
olden times they had no fine instruments to measure 
time, and soon the time measured by the sun and the 
time marked by the moon did not agree. 

* Pe Hert. S. Lit., vol. 2, t. 3, Eub. 



62 klSTOEY OF THE CALENDAR 

Julius Csesar, 46 before Christ, 708 from the founda- 
tion of Kome, aided by the learned astronomer Sosigenes, 
of Alexandria, added a day to February each fourth year, 
so as not to disturb the days of the month, but left 
them as they were before he had them read bis sexto 
calends. 1 From that comes our word bissextile, or leap 
year. But that way was not correct, for it wanted 11 
minutes and 9 seconds to make that calendar agree with 
the true year. That error went on increasing till, at the 
end of 484 years, the true year marked by the sun was 
three days ahead of the civil year. 

At that time the Catholic Church, following the cus- 
toms of the Jewish temple, held her feasts according to 
the time of the moon. They had to know, then, the 
movements of both the sun and the moon. Among them, 
as among the Jews, Easter was the chief feast, and on 
that the other feasts depended. Easter was held by the 
Jews on the 14th moon nearest the vernal equinox. 2 The 
early Christians celebrated it at the same time, but not 
on that day, but the first Sunday following the 14th moon 
following the vernal equinox, while those who kept it as 
the Jews were condemned by the Church, 3 because it was 
not right to celebrate the gladful day of Easter on the 
14th moon of March, as on that day our Lord lay dead 
in the tomb. At that time astronomy not having been 
as well known as now, the early Christians followed, 
some the time laid down by St. Hippolitus, others that 
of Meton. 4 In the year 325 the Council of Nice was 
called, 5 and decreed three things : that the feast of Easter 
should be kept on the Sunday following the 14th moon 
of March, which was followed since the time of the 
Apostles ; 6 that the moon to guide them in naming the 
Sunday was never to be either before the 14th or after 
the 21st of March, the day of the vernal equinox, the 
year the Council was held, and that the system of Meton 
was to be followed. Constantine, the Emperor, was 
present at the Council, and wrote to the absent bishops. 7 
From that decree Easter cannot come before the 22d of 
March nor after the 25th of April. 



1 See S. Aug. vol. lii, 240. 2 Exod. xii., Levit. xxiii., Numb, xxviii. 3 Concil. Arl. 
et Nicae. 4 Zalinger Ap. Hist. c. iv. 5 See Fabri Conciones Dom. xvii., p. Pent. con. 
vii,n. 1. 6 O'Brien, Hist, of tae Mass, p. 326, note. 7 Act. Concil. Nocae. St. Ambrose, 
Lit. ad. Episcopos Emil. 



THE GKEGOEIAN CALENDAR. 63 

To know the day on which, in future, to keep the feast 
of Easter, at that time Victor of Aquitain followed 
Meton's figures for 532 years, and it went on to the year 
533. Then Denis the Little adopted it, and from that it 
spread through all Christian nations. From that time 
they began to date the years from the birth of Christ. 
Before they used to date from the foundation of Rome, 
from the reign of the Emperor Dioclesian, or from the 
games among the Greeks called the Olympiads. 1 

But the system adopted by Denis was not correct, for 
he supposed the year to be made up of exactly 365 days 
and six hours, and after the end of 19 years, the years 
marked by the sun and those measured by the moon did 
not agree, so that at the end of 312 years the new moon 
appeared a day before the time appointed for it in the 
calendar. Thus the error went on increasing, because of 
the want of an exact knowledge of astronomy, till, in the 
seventh century, the vernal equinox, which comes on the 
21st of March, fell on the 11th of the same month, and if 
things went on in that way, at last we would come to cele- 
brate Easter about the time of Christmas. 

A reform was needed. It was proposed by Cardinal 
d'Ailly. Gerson thought of bringing it before the Coun- 
cil of Constance. Sixtus IV., with the aid of the astron- 
omer Regiomontan, undertook the correction, but did not 
finish the matter before his death. Thus the matter stood 
till it was up in the Council of Trent. Knowing that a mat- 
ter requiring such close calculations of the movements of 
the heavenly bodies could not be made in an assembly 
like a Council, they referred it to the Holy See. In 1581, 
Pope Gregory XIII., with the help of the most celebrated 
astronomers of his day, aided especially by Lelins, a 
Roman doctor, and the learned Jesuit, Clavius, gave the 
last touch to that important work, and thus formed what 
is called the Gregorian calendar. 

Not wishing to, in any way, go against the decree of 
the Council of Nice, and to keep to the old customs com- 
ing down from the times of the Apostles, the Pontiff de- 
clared that Easter would be the first Sunday following 
the 14th full moon of March, which would be the 21st of 
that month. He gave orders to take ten days from the 

i Craisson, Dis, sur le C&lend, n. 2$. 



64 THE DATE OF EVENTS. 

4th to the 15th of the month of October, 1582, because 
the feasts of that time were of less importance than those 
of any other part of the year. 1 Thus, by the act of the 
successor of the Apostle Peter, the only one whose voice 
would be heard by the world, the errors of the past were 
wiped out, and to guard against it for the future, he de- 
creed that while the cycles of the other ages would be 
kept, three leap years in every 400 years should be omitted. 

How little people know how much they owe to the 
Church. The old Egyptians, Chaldeans, Persians and 
Carthagenians began their year at the autumn equinox, 
Sept. 22. The Greeks and Romans commenced at the 
winter solstice, December 22. The early nations of 
Europe began some on March 1, others on January 1, 
others on December 25, others again on March 25. 
In France, March 1 opened the year. Some held that 
Easter was the right time. At the French revolution 
they changed to September 22, while at the time of the 
Byzantine empire they began the year on September 1st. 
Thus, if it were not for the Church, which, at the earliest 
ages, adopted a fixed time for dating the year, and of the 
Christian nations being led and taught by her, times and 
dates would have been so mixed up that it would have 
brought on a confusion such as the world never saw. It 
is but one of the many examples of the stubbornness of 
the hearts of men against the Church, that while all the 
Catholic nations adopted the Gregorian calendar, for 
nearly 200 years England refused it. 2 Even in our day 
Russia refuses to receive the calendar of Gregory XIII., 
because it came from one of the Popes. 3 But last year 
the Russian government at last adopted the Gregorian 
calendar, which is now adopted by the whole civilized 
world. Thus, after so many trials, the Church has given 
to the world a calendar which enables all nations to have 
a fixed time from which to date events. 

The followers of Mahommed count their days accord- 
ing to the twelve changes of the moon, making their 
year of 354 days, which not agreeing with the motions of 
the earth around the sun, sometimes their seasons change 
from year to year. They count their years from the 
flight of Mahommed, July 16, 622. 

J Greg, xiii., Bull Inter grevissimas. 2 England adopted the new style by Act of 
Parliament, in 1752. 3 O'Brien, Hist, of tne Mass, p. 351, note, 



THE EPACT GOLDEN NUMBER. 65 

The calendar regulates the public offices of the Church. 
The age of the moon, which is counted from the moment 
of the new moon, is known by the epact and the golden 
number. The Dominical letter shows the Sundays. The 
age of the moon is the number of days from its begin- 
ning, or the new moon. The epact is the age of the moon 
on the first of January each year. Each year, then, has 
its epact. When the epact of the year is known, it is 
easy to find out the days of the new moon during the 
whole year. The solar year, marked by the sun, has 365 
days; while the lunar year, marked by the moon, has 
only 354 da}^s, being 11 days shorter than the other. If 
both the solar and lunar years begin on the first of Janu- 
ary, there will be no difference in days that year ; but 
the next year the lunar year will be 11 days behind the 
solar year, and 11 will be the epact. The following year 
the epact will be 22, and the third 33 ; but as there are 
30 days in the month, the epact will be 3. Meton saw 
that after a period of 19 years the new moons would 
come again to agree with the times marked by the sun, 
and the Greeks, admiring that discovery, marked these 
dates with letters of gold. From that came the golden 
numbers. The golden numbers were very useful to the 
people of Athens, for they regulated their feasts by the 
changes of the moon. 1 One of the columns of the calen- 
dar has the seven first letters of the alphabet repeated a 
great number of times. They show the days of the week, 
and the Dominical letter tells the Sundays, for the days 
of the week do not always fall on the same day of the 
month. The Church also uses the letters of the alphabet 
to show the age of the moon in reading the Martyrology, 
and in the calendar to show the Sundays. 

After 28 years the Dominical letters will succeed one 
another in the same way as before, and the days of the 
week will fall on the same dates. That is called the solar 
cycle. There is also another cycle used in Rome, called 
the cycle of indiction. These three cycles, the solar, 
lunar, and the cycle of indiction, form a period of 7,980 
years, called the Julian period. Going back, they con- 
sider it to begin in 4,713 before Christ. No two years in 
that whole time can have the same numbers in the solar 

1 Cosmographie par L'Abbe Menuge, n. 181. 



66 ORIGIN OF THE WORD BIBLE. 

cycle, the lunar cycle, or the cycle of indiction; conse- 
quently, when we know the rank of any year in each of 
these three cycles, we know its place in the Julian 
period. There is a little book printed each year called 
the Ordo, which tells the clergy what offices and masses 
they are to say each day in the year ; *so it is not neces- 
sary for each one to arrange the feasts for himself. 

Y. — The Bible and the Year. 

During the year the Offices and the Masses are filled 
with parts of the Holy Bible. The word Bible comes 
from the Greek, and means a book, for it is the Book of 
all Books, because it contains the revelation made by 
God to man. In the fourth century, when St.Chrysostom, 
the Greek for golden tongued, was preaching his won- 
derful sermons and explaining the Word of God contained 
in the Holy Book to the people of the Byzantine empire, 
he called it The Book, in Greek, Bible. From that 
comes its name. Before that time it was called the Scrip- 
tures, that is, from the Latin, meaning the Writings, for 
of all writings it is the highest and the most sublime. It 
is called the Holy Bible, or Scriptures, for it contains 
the holy things revealed by God to the human race. It 
is called the Bible, not the Bibles, for, although there 
are many books in it written by many different persons, 
yet they all relate to one and the same thing — the sal- 
vation of the human race, and they were written by one 
and the same Person, the Holy Spirit. It is divided into 
two parts : the Old and New Testaments. The word 
Testament comes from the Latin, 1 and means the last will 
and testament of the dying, by which he leaves his 
goods and property to his heirs. 2 Thus, Moses, before 
his death upon the Mount, left the five books he wrote 
to the Hebrews as to his heirs, and our Lord, of whom 
Moses was but a shadowy figure, before his death made 
us the heirs of his kingdom by the New Testament. 
Again, Testament, in the old Hebrew tongue, signifies 
an agreement, for in these two Holy Testaments are 
found the agreement formed between God and man, so 
that we know that if we serve Him here on earth we will 
by his promise enjoy Him in heaven, for that is what He 

i See S. Aug. Locut, De Gen. 1. 1, n. 46. 2 S. Aug. En. in Ps. ljxsii, n. yi, 



THE OLD AND NEW TESTAMENTS. 67 

promises us in his Testaments in the Bible. Thus, God 
told Moses to " anoint the tabernacle of the testimony 
and the ark of the testament," 1 and our Saviour, the night 
before his death, said, " This is the blood of the new tes- 
tament which shall be shed for many unto the remission 
of sins." 2 Therefore, the writings of the Old Testament 
are called the Old Testament, while the writings of the 
New Testament are called the New Testament. 3 As 
when a man is about to make his last will and testament 
he names his heirs, makes his will, calls the witnesses 
and signs the paper. Thus did God when He made the 
Hebrews the heirs of the promised land. He made his 
will, that is, the five first books of the Old Testament. 
He pointed out his heirs, the children of Israel ; He 
called his witnesses, Moses and Aaron. Thus was the 
Old Testament made by God in the days of the mir- 
acles worked by the hand of God in the calling of his 
chosen people from the land of Egypt. 4 Thus did Christ 
when He made the Gentiles the heirs of heaven. He 
made his will the four Gospels ; He pointed out his 
heirs, all the Gentiles of the world; He called his witnes- 
ses, the Apostles. 5 Thus was the New Testament made 
in the days of the miracles of the Son of God, in the call- 
ing of the human race from this world to our home 
beyond the skies. It is again called the Old Testament, 
because in it was promised the old land of Canaan, for 
the Lord spoke, and said, " I am come down to deliver 
them out of the hands of the Egyptians, and to bring 
them .... into a land that floweth with milk and 
honey." 6 That land was but a figure of that other land, 
that other home in heaven, " that eye hath not seen, nor 
ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of 
man, what things God hath prepared for them that love 
him." 7 It is called the Old Testament, for it was given 
to purge the old man 8 of sin into the new man of inno- 
cence. It was given to the old man born of Adam to pre- 
pare him to be the new man born of Christ. " To put. 
off . . . the old man who is corrupted .... 
and put on the new man who, according to God, is 
created in justice and holiness of truth." 9 It is called 



1 Exod. xxx 26. 2 Matt. xxvi. 28. 3 De consec. dist. 4. sicutin sacras. 4 S. Aug. 
L. De Sp. et List, n. 40. 5 S. Aug. De Gestis Pelag, n. xiv. 6 Exod. iii. 8. T 1 Cor, 
ii. 9. 8 S, Aug. Contra ii., Epist. Pelag., u. 13. » Eph. iv. 22-34. 



68 THE OLD AND NEW. 

the Old as compared to the New, 1 for the Old was to pass 
away and the New to take its place ; " the old things 
are passed away, behold all things are made new." 2 

It is called the New Testament, for in it we are told of 
the new things in heaven promised to the servants of 
God. 3 It is called the New, for since it was made by 
our Lord, man becomes, as it were, a new creature by^ 
his grace. It is called the New, for when man makes a 
will or his last testament, and then makes another, the 
last is the new will and the old is useless ; the last re- 
mains and is confirmed by his death. 4 Thus the Old 
Testament is gone and the New is confirmed by the 
death of our Lord. As the Old was confirmed and ful- 
filled by his coming, the new was made to last forever; 
for that it is called " the new and everlasting testa- 
ment," 5 for it is the last to the end of time. 
All this is given in the words of the Apostles, "and there- 
fore he is the mediator of the New Testament, that by 
the means of his death for the redemption of those 
transgressions, which were under the former testament, 
they that are called may receive the promise of eternal 
inheritance , for where there is a testament the death of 
the testator must of necessity come in, for a testament is 
of force after men are dead." 6 But there is but one Tes- 
tament, and the Old was but a figure and a preparation 
for the New, for " all happened to them in figures." 7 

In the services and the Offices of the Church during the 
year, from the very beginning of our religion, from the 
days of the Apostles, they took many parts of the Bible 
and composed the Masses and the Offices with portions of 
that holy Book. In the first ages there were many trans- 
lations of the Bible into the various languages of that 
early time, but of all these none was more celebrated or 
more widely known than the Septuagint. It was trans- 
lated from the Hebrew into Greek by the seventy-two 
elders 8 under Ptolemy Philadelphus, King of Egypt, the 
foster father of the learning of ancient Alexandria, 277 
years before Christ. Under him and in his kingdom, 
lived the most distinguished and learned men of that early 
age. That translation of the Old Testament, made for 

1 S. Aug. c. 11, Ep. Pelag. l.iii., n. 13. 2 2 Cor. v. 17. » S. Aug. L. De Sp. et List, 
n. 39. 4 Extra De Celeb. Mis. Cum Martliae, S. Cae. 5 Can. Mis. Verb. Con. 6 Heb. 
ix. 15, 16, 17. 7 1 Cor. x. 6. 8 S. Aug. DeCivitate Dei, 1., xviii., n. xliii. etlviii., c. xi, 



THE SEPTUAGINT BIBLE. 69 

the Jews of Egypt in the clays of the rising republic of 
Rome, was made by a pagan king ; it was translated into 
Greek, as it were, by the hand of God, that that Greek 
tongue, the language then of the learned of these days — 
that the Bible might be spread through the Gentile 
nations — might become a way of preparing them for the 
gospel of Christ, who used this version when he preached 
on the hills 1 of Judea, and soon after the time 2 of our 
Lord 3 it was scattered through the world by the preach- 
ing of the Apostles. The word Gospel comes from two 
old Saxon words, good spell, the good tidings, and signi- 
fies the good tidings of our redemption. 4 

From the time when St. Peter brought the Latin rite 
to Rome, they used the Latin version in the services of 
the Church, but by the work of those who copied it, to- 
ward the beginning of the fourth century, it had changed 
a little. St. Jerome, under the direction of Pope Dama- 
sus, corrected the old Latin Bible and made it agree with 
the Septuagint. 5 Soon it became so popular among the 
people as to be called the Yulgate, the Latin for common. 
It was approved by Pope Damasus. It was ordered to 
be sung in the Church by Pope Gregory, and since that 
time it has been the authorized version of the Bible. 
The Old Testament was translated into English at Rheims 
(1582), and the New at Douay (1609-10). This has since 
been known as the English version of the Yulgate. Thus 
the Latin Yulgate, revised by St. Jerome, is the Bible of 
the Church, while a translation of it is used by the peo- 
ple who speak the English language. 

During Advent we read at mass the Epistle of St. Paul 
to the Romans, where he speaks of the coming of our 
Lord ; where he tells them of their salvation, and that 
their hour has come ; 6 where he speaks of the calling of 
the nations of the earth to the Church of God ; 7 where he 
writes to them to rejoice on the Lord for their redemp- 
tion, 8 and where he lays down before them the mysteries 
of the priesthood, as the ministers of the Lord, dispensing 
to the people the sacraments of the Church. 9 

During Advent we read in the breviary the prophecy of 
the great Isaias, who, of all the men of the ancient world 

1 O'Brien, Hist of the Mass, p. 203. 2 Dixon, Introrluc. to the Scriptures, p. 98. 
3 Valt. Prolog, c. ii. 4 Oath. Friends, vol. iii., p. 470. 5 S. Ang. De Civ. Dei, 1. xviii., 
n. xliii. 6 Rom. xii. T Rom. xiv. 8 Rom. iv. 9 Rom. iv. 



70 THE BIBLE DURING THE YEAR. 

which the hand of God raised up to foretell the coming of 
the Son of God, foretold in clearest language the life of 
our Saviour. We begin with the vision of Isaias, the son 
of Amos, where he calls the heavens and the earth to wit- 
ness that the Lord hath spoken. He reproves the Jews 
for their sins. 1 He tells them of the time to come when 
the rod shall go forth from the root of Jesse, when the 
flower from his root shall ascend, when the sevenfold 
power of the Holy Spirit shall dwell upon him, and of 
the power and of the greatness of his coming kingdom. 2 
He speaks to the Jews of the future kingdom of the Lord, 
of His holy Church guarding truth and keeping peace, of 
the synagogue rejected and the Gentile nations chosen in 
its place, and of the Holy Spirit, through the pastors of 
the Church, granting peace, justice and mercy to the peo- 
ple of the earth. 3 He speaks of the deserts and of the 
solitudes blooming and blossoming like the rose. He 
foretells the beauties and the grandeurs of that holy 
Church of God spread through the earth, and under the 
figures of the wild beasts of the forest, he tells of the 
taming of the wild passions of men by the grace of the 
Saviour, poured into the hearts of men by the sacraments. 4 
During the Christmas holidays we read still the pro- 
phecy of Isaias, telling of the birth of our Saviour, 5 
telling the people of God to be consoled, for their Lord 
will come to them, foretelling the words of the Baptist 
in the wilderness, crying out to " prepare the way of the 
Lord," 6 telling the soul of man under the figure of Sion 
and of Jerusalem, to rise from sin and sorrow, and to put 
on the garments of joy, for the Saviour was to come. 
From the Christmas holidays to Septuagesima Sunday, 
we read the epistles of St. Paul, where the Apostle lays 
down the doctrine of the salvation of the race by the 
death of the Eedeemer, for by the Church this time is 
set apart to the mysteries of the birth of our Lord. From 
Septuagesima Sunday to Lent we read the book of Gene- 
sis, because during this time of the year the Church 
celebrates and brings before the minds of men the crea- 
tion of the world from nothing by the almighty hand of 
God. To bring before the minds of the people the work 
of the creation, we read that part of the Bible where the 

1 Isa. i. 2 Isa. ii. 3 Isa. xxvi. 4 Isa. xxxv. ° Isa. ix. 6 Isa. xi. 3. 



IN THE CATACOMBS. 71 

creation is told, and where the story of the fall of our 
first parents is given. In Lent we read those parts of the 
Old Testament where it speaks of that remarkable way 
in which God prepared the Jews for the coming of His 
Son. As we come toward the end of Lent, the saddest 
and the most heartrending parts of the prophet Jeremias 
are given, where he prophesies of the sufferings and of 
the death of our Lord. We take those parts of the Holy 
Scriptures where penance and fasting are given, so that 
they may be an example to us in order to prepare us by 
fasting, for the coming joys of the Easter time. During 
the Paschal time, from Easter to Pentecost, the Church 
celebrates the glories of the risen Son of God, and she 
takes the most joyful parts of the Bible, and in her ser- 
vices and in her rites and ceremonies, she tells of the 
everlasting and transcendent splendors of the Crucified, 
passing from the tomb to the happiness of the other 
world, and of his ascending from earth to heaven. The 
early history of the Catholic Church is read each year, 1 
as given in the Acts of the Apostles. The glories of 
heaven awaiting us beyond the skies are given as seen by 
St. John in the Apocalypse, while from Pentecost to Ad- 
vent we read the Books of Kings, the Parables of Solomon, 
the Books of Ecclesiastes and of Ecclesiasticus, and the 
Books of the Maccabees, so that the whole or part of 
every book in the Bible is read in the Office of the 
Breviary during the Ecclesiastical year. 

In the catacombs, where the persecutions of the pagans 
drove the first Christians from the light of heaven to the 
bowels of the earth, they held their services from day to 
day over the different tombs of the Apostles or the mar- 
tyrs. With solemn procession they marched from their 
hiding places to the crypt, where rested the remains of 
those who gave their lives for the love of their Lord, and 
on the martyrs' tombs they offered up the sacrifice of 
the Mass. When by the edict of Constantine the Catho- 
lics were freed from the persecutions of paganism, they 
kept that custom, and each Sunday, each feast, each fast, 
and on days of penance they walked to the Church, 
where the Mass was to be said. By the lapse of time 
that ancient habit was dying out, till restored by command 

1 S. Aug., vol. xiv., 474. 



72 MEANING OF THE SEASONS. 

of Gregory the Great. 1 Now when the Church is free, when 
her head is not hindered by the tools of the gates of dark- 
ness, these processions are carried out with great pomp 
and solemnity, in the 365 churches of Rome. Most of 
them have a station, where the mass of the different days 
are offered, while on the principal feasts of the cycle of 
the year the services are celebrated in the great Basilicas 
of the Eternal City. Such is the meaning of the stations 
of the masses during the year, as named in the Missal, 
or mass book. 

Let us then see how the Church, founded by Christ 
and guided by the Spirit of God, took the year and set 
apart its times, its seasons, and its days to the worship of 
the Lord. The year is divided into four seasons : winter, 
in which nature sleeps and life appears to have gone 
from the earth ; 2 spring, in which the seeds are sown and 
new life springs forth ; summer, in which all things are 
in the strength and vigor of their growth ; and fall, in 
which the harvest is gathered and the treasures of earth 
are laid away. Thus, the year which comes and goes 
tells us of the great year of this world, beginning at the 
creation and measured by four seasons, lasting till the 
end of time. 

Winter recalls to us the time when grace was lost to 
the human race ; of the epoch from Adam to Moses, when 
the peoples and the nations of the earth were given to 
idolatry ; when there was " none that doeth good ; no, not 
one." 3 Spring recalls the era of old, when the seeds of 
the revelation of God were sown in the human heart ; of 
the time from Moses to the birth of Christ, when man 
was taught by the mouths of the inspired prophets, who 
came to scatter the seeds of prophecy in the spring time 
of our holy religion, when the God of the Old Testament 
told the children of Israel, " Hear, O Israel, . 
thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, 
and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength," 4 
to the time when all had been prepared for the coming of 
the Lord. The summer figures the present age from the 
coming of the Saviour to the end of the world, when the 
grace of God reigns in the heart of man in all its strength ; 
when the Church, like summer beauties, covers the earth; 

1 Gueranger rAvent, p. 113, note. 2 S. Aug. Sermo. xxxvi in Prov. n. iv. 3 Psalm 
xiii. 3. 4 Deut. vi. 4, 5. 



THE WINTER OF THE RACE. 73 

when the deserts and the wilderness bloom and blossom 
like the rose ; when the souls of men are led on to God 
by the teachings of the Church. Fall recalls to our 
minds the last days of the world, when the great harvest 
of souls will be gathered into the granaries of God, and 
the treasuries emptied by the fall of the angels will be 
filled, and at last the beings made to praise him will 
stand before his throne and sing forever the glories of 
our God in the endless ages of eternity. 

In the winter time of the human race, by the sin of 
Adam, the blooming flowers of faith, hope and charity 
were frozen up by the coldness of infidelity ; in the spring 
time of the race the prophets sowed the seeds of the 
revelation ; in the summer time the Church obtains her 
highest and her fullest growth ; in the fall, the fruits of 
holy souls will be gathered into the heavens of the Lord. 
Thus, in the times of the Apostles, they took the seasons 
of the year to teach, by figures, symbols and ceremonies, 
the work of the Saviour and the salvation of the race. 

The winter of the human race, when man turned from 
God, from the fall of Adam to the call of Moses, is repre- 
sented by the rites and the ceremonies of the Church ; 
from Septuagesima Sunday to Easter, when the altars, 
the clergy and the sanctuary put on their violet colors, 
the sign of penance ; when the gladsome hymns of the 
" Glory be to God in the highest," and the " Thee, O 
God, we praise," give place to tones of sorrow, to tell of 
the time of sorrow for our sins. Then all is hushed but 
the solemn tones of the Masses calling down forgiveness 
for our sins, and for the sins of our race in the days of the 
winter of the world. During the Paschal Season, from 
Easter to Trinity Sunday, the Church is clothed in all 
the gorgeous grandeurs the mind of man conceives, the 
organ peals forth its joyful tones, the hymns and songs 
of praise are multiplied and alleluias are oft repeated ; 
the clergy clothe themselves with vestments of gold ; the 
altars pour forth their perfumes of flowers ; the sanctu- 
aries are brilliant with the lights of the candles ; the 
building breathes of joyousness and happiness ; hymns 
and canticles re-echo from the vaulted roofs and recesses 
of our great cathedrals. The Church rejoices. We are 
celebrating and recalling to the minds of men the time 
when the Saviour came and lived upon our earth, when 



74 THE COLORS OF THE VESTMENTS. 

lie redeemed us, and when he taught us the way to 
heaven. From Trinity Sunday to Advent, the Church 
celebrates the summer of the race, when the Christian 
religion, in all its strength, beauty, vigor and power is 
spread throughout the world, calling the nations to her 
saving bosom. 1 From Advent to Christmas, we recall the 
signs and the wonders foretold to come to pass at the end 
of the world ; when the moon shall be darkened and the 
sun refuse to shed its light ; when the heavens will be 
rolled up and the stars shall fall from heaven, and when 
the last scene of the death of the world Avill tell all men 
of the coming of the Son of God, foretold by the prophets 
spoken of by our Lord. 2 

The vestments worn by the clergy tell their story to the 
people, 3 and by their shape and by their color teach their 
lessons. 4 White has always been the color of innocence 
and of purity. 5 For that reason it is used on all the 
feasts of our Lord, for who was purer or more innocent 
than he? 6 It is worn on all the feasts of the Virgin, for 
who was purer or more beautiful than she ? It is seen 
in the vestments of the clergy on all feasts of the saints 
and virgins, to teach the people to practice their inno- 
cence and their purity, and these lessons taught the peo- 
ple by the Church is so strong, that rarely was any 
other color used but white before the sixth century. 7 
Red is the color of fortitude and of martyrdom. 8 For 
that reason it is used at Pentecost to recall the red fiery 
tongues in which the Holy Ghost came down upon the Apos- 
tles. It is worn on the feasts of the Passion of our Lord, 
for he was the greatest martyr, and on feasts of the 
Apostles and of the martyrs in remembrance of the way 
they died martyrs for our holy religion. 9 Green is the 
color of hope 10 and of youth. For that reason it is used 
from the octave of Epiphany to Septuagesima Sunday, 11 
as a symbol of the hope of the redemption soon to be 
celebrated in Holy Week. Black is the color of dark- 
ness and of death. For that reason the Church and the 
clergy are clothed in black in the services of Good Friday, 12 



1 Is. xi. 2 Is. xxxiv. ; Matth. xxiv. ; Mark xiii. ; Luke xxi. 3 See Bisk. Moran, 
Discipline of tke Early Irisk Church. 4 El Porque de Todas las Ceremonias de la 
Iglesia, Cap xii, 5 O'Brien. Hist, of the Mass, p. 63. 6 El Porque de las Ceremonias, 
c. xii., Blanco.- 7 Kozraa, 73. 8 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 63. 9 Ikiden. 10 El 
Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xii. li El Porque, Ibiden. 12 El Porque de las Cere- 
monias, c, xii., Negro. 



THE FOLDED VESTMENTS. ?0 

in memory of the darkness which covered the earth at 
the death of our Lord. 1 It is used also at funerals, as a 
figure of the Church mourning for the dead. From the 
Church, in ages past, the people learned to put on black, 
when mourning for their dead. Violet is the color of 
fasting and of penance. 2 For that reason it is used in the 
Advent, Septuagesima and Lenten seasons, and at the 
Quater Tenses, at all processions, except that of the 
Blessed Sacrament. It is used on the feast of the Holy 
Innocents, 3 on account of the lamentations of sorrow 
heard in Bethlehem, when the little children were put to 
death by Herod. 4 When their feast falls on Sunday the 
vestments are red, and on the octave of the feast, for now 
the lamentations have ceased and the octave signifies the 
glory of Heaven, 5 and the red symbolizes their martyr- 
dom. 

As violet is the color of fasting and of penance, it is the 
color of the dalmatic and of the tunic of the deacon and 
sub-deacon, in Advent and Lent, on days of fasting, ex- 
cept the eves of the saints' days, on the third Sunday of 
Advent, the fourth Sunday of Lent, Christmas Eve, Holy 
Saturday, and the blessing of the Paschal candle. Yiolet 
is used also at masses of the Quater Tenses of Pente- 
cost at the blessing of the candles, during the procession 
at the feast of the Purification of the Blessed Yirgin; at 
the blessing of the ashes on Ash Wednesday, and of the 
palms on Palm Sunday. 6 

As the dalmatic and the tunic are vestments of solem- 
nity and of joy, the deacon and sub-deacon should not use 
them on days of fasting and of penance, 7 except on the 
days given above. But they may be used on Holy 
Thursday and on the eve of Pentecost, because folded 
vestments are not used, except violet and black. In 
cathedrals and in large churches, as colleges, monasteries 
and important parish churches, on the days when the 
dalmatic and tunic are not allowed, the deacon and sub- 
deacon use the folded vestments, which are of the same 
form and color of those of the celebrant, but they are 
folded or rolled up in front before the breast and fastened 



1 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 63. 2 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xii, Morado. 
3 El Porque de las Ceremonias, Morado. 4 Math. ii. 5 De Hert, S. Lit. Prax. i., p. 
190 ; Bouvry, Kub. ii. 199. « Kub. Mis. XIX De Qnal. Par, n. 6. 7 See El Porque de 
as Ceremonias, c. xiv., Dalmatica. 



76 HISTORY OF THE FOLDED CHASUBLE. 

with pins. They are thus fastened because of the cus- 
toms of olden times, when the vestments covered the 
whole body, they tied them up so as not to be in the way 
of their hands when ministering at the altar, and we tie 
them up as the remains of these old customs. The deacon 
and subdeacon laid aside their folded vestments, when 
singing the Epistle and the Gospel, to show that to them 
does not belong, by right of their order, the power of 
preaching the Word of God, but to the celebrant. 1 For- 
merly the chasuble was worn by all the clergy, and was 
their common dress. The deacon and the subdeacon, in 
the cathedrals and other large churches, have continued 
that habit during Advent, Lent, and times of penance. 
In its first form, covering the whole body, the chasuble 
hindered the free use of the arms, and for that reason 
they tied it up in front on their breasts while serving at 
the altar. The deacon, being the most active during 
Mass, used to take off his chasuble, and folding it in the 
form of a sash, placed it on his left shoulder, as soldiers 
sometimes do with their cloaks. Thus, little by little the 
deacons became accustomed to use large stoles in place 
of their chasubles, folded across their left shoulders. 2 
Formerly the deacon folded his chasuble, and placing it 
on his left shoulder, tied it under his right arm, like a 
diaconal stole. Now, according to the rules, the deacon 
does not do so, but laying it aside, he takes in its place a 
stole longer than the one commonly used, and places it 
over the one he has on. That large stole takes the place 
of the chasuble folded and tied across his shoulder. It 
has, therefore, no crosses or fringes, and is not enlarged 
at the ends. Such are the explanations of the meanings 
and the histories of the folded dalmatic and tunic of the 
deacon and subdeacon. 



1 De Herdt S. Lityrgias Prax. 1. 1., p. L, tit, xix., n. 50, De Qual, Par. 2 De Conny, 
Ceremon. de TEglise, p. 71. 




The Holy Chapel of the Palace, Paris, 



Chapter III. — The Advent Season. 



REASONS RELATING TO THE ADVENT SEASON. 

The word Advent comes from the Latin and means the 
coming, and well, for it tells of the time set apart by the 
church to prepare for the coming of our Lord. 1 We know 
not when Advent was established. 2 It goes back till its 
history is lost 3 in the silence of the Apostolic times. 
Some writers say* that it was instituted by St. Peter him- 
self, 5 others by Pope Gregory the Great. 6 It appears 
to have been celebrated in Eome from the beginning of 
the Church. As the Jews were tanght by John Baptist 
in the desert, " Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make 
straight His paths," "preaching the baptism of pen- 
ance unto the remission of sins," 7 thus Advent is to 
prepare the world for his coming at Christmas. Advent 
began in the western church, for it appears that the time 
of holding it was laid down only after Christmas was 
fixed for the 25th of December. That it was held in the 
church from the earliest ages all monuments of antiquity 
teach. In the fifth century it was customary to assemble 
the people, and by sermons and services prepare them 
for Christmas, as can be seen by the sermons of SS., 
Maxim of Toul, Ambrose of Milan, Augustin of Hippo, 
and Caesar of Arls, besides of many of the early saints, 
while the bishops of the Carlovingian kingdom told 
Charles the Bald that he must not take the people from 
the churches during the time of Advent or Lent, under 
the excuse of State matters or the necessity of war. 8 St. 
Gregory of Tours says that S. Perpetuus, one of his pre- 
decessors, 9 ordered that the faithful of his diocese should 
fast three times a week, from St. Martin's day till Christ- 
mas. 10 An ancient council 11 commanded the people and the 

1 Praec. Eccl. Fest, § 1. 2 Durandus, Rationale Div. L. vi. n. 10. 3 Gueranger, 
L'Aahnee Lit. L'Avent, p. 7. 4 El Torque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx., Del Adviento, 
etc. 5 Benedic. XIV. Inst. 11, n. 7. 6 Durand., Eational. Div. L. vi. c, 11, n. 2. 7 Mark 
i., 3, 4. 8 Capit. of Charles the Bald. 9 About 480. 10 Hist, des Francs. n Conci] 
Macon, in 582. 



HISTORY OF ADVENT FASTING. 79 

clergy to fast mondays, Wednesdays and fridays, from 
St. Martin's day till Christmas, and that the Holy Sacrifice 
should be celebrated with the same solemnity as during 
Lent. Another council 1 made a law that monks should 
fast from the first of December to Christmas, while Bha- 
ban Mur, 2 and many writers of that early age leave no doubt 
that the custom of keeping Advent comes down from the 
most ancient times. The people first kept an Advent of 
forty days, till in after years they shortened it to four 
weeks. Thus, we read of its being kept in England, 3 in 
Italy, 4 in Germany, Spain, etc. 5 The first official act of a 
Pope shortening Advent to four weeks is found in the 
letters of Nicholas I. 6 Although St. Peter of Damien 
and St. Louis of France, in after years, kept it for forty 
days, they did it only through devotion. 

In the beginning of the Church they were to fast both 
from food and to fast from meat during Advent. But 
the people, by the lapse of ages, losing their fervor, the 
Church released them from the obligation of fasting from 
food, but continued to command the fast from meat, while 
she relaxed in nothing regarding the clergy. 7 Prom the 
beginning of the church, as in our day, every bishop being 
free to make rules regulating these matters in his diocese, 
the discipline was not the same everywhere regarding 
Advent, but we know from the olden monuments of that 
time that it was kept with severe rigor by the whole Papal 
Court, 8 and by the people of Prance, 9 even to the thirteenth 
century. Laxer and more relax became the people, so 
that Urban Y. 10 to prevent the custom of keeping 
Advent being completely lost, commanded the clergy of 
his Court to fast from meat, saying nothing of fasting 
from food. In after ages St. Charles of Borromeo tried 
to renew the old custom among the people of the diocese 
of Milan, directing the parish priests to exhort their 
people to receive Holy Communion, at least on the Sun- 
days of Advent and of Lent. 11 Benedict XIV., when arch- 
bishop of Bologna, taught the people of his diocese the 
high idea they should have of the holy time of Advent, 
and telling them that it was not only a time for penance 

1 Concil. VI Tour, held in 567. 2 L. De Inst. Cler. 3 Venerable Bede. 4 Astophus, 
king of the Lombards in 753. 5 Dom. Martine De Ant. Rit. Eccl. 6 Lit ad Bulg. 
7 Concilia Seling. 1122 ; Avr. 1172 ; Salisbury 1281, etc. 8 Innocent III, Lit. ad Epis. 
Bra. 9 Durand., Rationale Div. 1. vi. c. 11. 10 In 1362. 1 Concil. IV. 



80 ANCIENT RITES. 

among the clergy and in the monasteries, but also for the 
people, 1 that they might prepare themselves for the com- 
ing of their Lord in the feasts of Christmas. 

In the Greek Church they keep Advent for forty days, 
from the 14th of November, the feast of St. Philip, to 
Christmas, all that time eating neither meat, butter, 
eggs or milk, which they never eat in Lent. They fast 
from food seven days during the course of their Advent, 
which they call St. Philip's Lent. Following their own 
rules, they say no Mass of the pre-sanctified, as in Lent, 
but from the 14th of November to the nearest Sunday to 
Christmas in their masses and in their offices there are 
many words and prayers relating to the birth of Christ, 
to the Maternity of Mary, to the stable of Bethlehem and 
to the coming of our Lord ; showing that although they 
separated from us in the remote ages, still they have 
kept their services formed by the Apostles and known by 
the name of the Greek Rite, and that they prepare their 
people for the coming of our Lord by the special cere- 
monies and rites of their church. 

The Franco-Roman Missal gives a Latin hymn, com- 
posed in the eleventh century, relating to the birth of 
Christ, while the Ambrosial Missal has a special prayer 
for the second Sunday of Advent. The same may be 
seen 2 in the hymn book of Tomasi, 3 and in the Mozarabic 
Missal with its beautiful hymns and prayers, in the Galli- 
can Missal with its sweetly sounding collects, 4 in the 
Gallican Sacramentary with its prayers for Christmas, in 
the Anthology of the Greeks with its beautiful hymns, in 
the Ambrosian Liturgy with the prayers for the weeks of 
Advent, in the Mozarabic Breviary with its offices of 
Advent, in Cluny's Missal with its hymns to the Virgin, 5 
in the hymns and the prayers composed by Peter of 
Damien, in all the monuments of these ancient times, in 
these books of Liturgy, old and venerable, we find the 
Offices and the Masses of Advent to be preparations for 
the coming of our Lord in the holidays of Christmas. 

In the following pages, we will not go into the other Bites 
of the Church, or treat of these services of other churches, 
or of these ceremonies which have come down from the 



1 Inst. Eccl. 2 In Ad. Dom. 3 Composed in the ninth century 4 In Ad. Dom. 
e Ed. of 1528. 






THE OKIGIN OF ADVENT. 81 

times of the remote ages, but we will give the people the 
meaning of the grand and striking Liturgies of the Latin 
Eite, such as have been used by the western branch of 
the Catholic Church. 

The ceremonies and the services of our Church, such 
as we have them to-day, appear to have been reformed 
by Pope Gregory the Great, 1 who pointed out the form 
to be used by those who followed the Latin Rite. He 
sanctioned the custom of fasting during Advent, but left 
to the bishops the manner of putting the law in practice. 
We see by the writers of the ninth and tenth centuries 2 
that where the Latin Rite was carried out they had four 
weeks of Advent, and in the fourth came the happy day of 
Christmas, except when it falls on Sunday. 3 St. Peter, the 
first Pope, therefore marked out three weeks before Christ- 
mas in which to prepare for the coming of our Lord, and 
the fourth week is never ended, for the happy day of Christ's 
birth falls within the last week. All this to signify the 
fourfold coming of the Saviour of the world when he was 
born at Bethlehem, 4 when he comes in Holy Communion, 5 
when he comes at each one's death, and when he will come 
at last to judge the world. The first three weeks are to 
prepare for his first three comings, 6 but the fourth week 
is never ended, for his fourth coming is to bring to the 
good and to the holy the glory of heaven, which for them 
will never end. First, he came in the form of man and 
took our flesh, as the Apostle says: "And the Word was 
made flesh and dwelt among us." 7 Secondly, he comes 
into the heart of man, as the Gospel says : "If any one 
love me he will keep my word, and my Father will 
love him, and we will come to him and will make 
our abode with him." 8 Thirdly, he comes at our 
death, of which he says : " Blessed are those servants 
whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching." 9 
Fourthly, he will come at the last day 10 to judge the world, 
of which he says : " They shall see the son of man com- 
ing in the clouds of heaven with much power and 
majesty." 11 The first time he came with the sweetness of a 



1 Sacra. St. Greg., El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. 2 Pope Nicholas I. Bernon 
Tathier, etc. 3 L'Anne Liturgique par D. P. Guerariger L'Avent, Hist, de L'Av. 
4 441, etc. 5 S. Aug. vol. vii., 197. 6 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. 7 John 
L, 14. 8 Johnxiv.,23. 9 Lukexii.,37. 10 S, Thomas, P.iiL.q. 1, 6ad3, etc. 41 Math. 
xxiv., 30. 



82 THE FOUR COMINGS OF CHRIST. 

child, the second with the love of a God, the third with 
rewards for each, and the fourth time with the awful 
majesty of an eternal Judge. His first coming was to 
deliver the world from the slavery of the devil, the second 
is to strengthen the soul of man with his Body and his 
Blood, his third is to take his servants to heaven, while 
his fourth will be to judge the good and bad, and to show 
the everlasting justice which appears not now. Thus 
from the very beginning that holy Church, founded by 
the Son of God and scattered through the world by the 
preaching of the Apostles, took the four weeks before 
the time of Christmas and set them apart to prepare the 
people for these four comings of the Lord. 

For four thousand years the world waited for the com- 
ing of the Son of God, and to keep before the minds of 
men those times of waiting, the Church set apart these 
four weeks before Christmas to typify these four great 
periods of time, when God, in heaven, prepared mankind 
for the coming of his Son. There were four kinds of men 
who prepared the world for the coming of our Lord. The 
first were those who lived from Adam and Moses ; the 
patriarchs who, guided by the law of reason, kept the 
faith revealed to the race in the garden of Paradise ; the 
second were those who lived from Moses to David, who, 
guided by the law given to the Hebrews, in the ceremonies 
and the services of the temple, prefigured the coining of 
our Lord ; the third were the prophets, who, living in 
the days of the Old Testament, were inspired by the Holy 
Spirit to foretell the times, the days and the manner of 
his coming ; a the fourth were those who, living in the 
times of Christ, were guided by the words of our Lord 
himself to receive him as their Saviour, and spread his 
holy Church throughout the world. The first week, 
therefore, relates to the Patriarchs, the second to the 
Priests, the third to the Prophets, and the fourth to 
the Apostles. As God in the beginning of the world 
prepared the human race for the coming of his Son, thus 
the Church prepares the people to receive him ; and 
for ever to keep before the mind of man his coming, she 
formed the rites and the services of the holy time of 
Advent to renew each year his coming and his birth. 



El Porque de las Cerenionias, c. xxx. 



ADVENT CEREMONIES. 83 

Alas ! look at the world to-day and see how it needs 
the coming of the Lord : no Christian government on the 
earth ; God banished from the laws ; honor no more the 
best policy ; old age not honored ; youth given up to 
pleasures ; the sayings of the saints forgotten ; the love 
of money the god of man ; x the banks the great temples 
where Mammon is adored ; the mind of man turned from 
the Saviour, and his coming and his works forgotten. 
Behold how the Church renews each year by the cere- 
monies and the services of Advent the coming of the 
Lord! 2 

Thus to the end of time the Church renews the years 
of the waiting of the world for the coming of the Saviour, 
when the just and the holy ones of the Old Testament 
waited and prayed for the Advent and the coming of the 
Desired of the everlasting hills. 

Thus in her offices and in her prayers there are no 
remembrances or suffrages of the saints 4 , for the saints 
of the Old Testament were not in heaven : they went to 
that place of happiness and of joy only at the going 
there of our Lord, on Ascension Thursday, when he 
opened heaven for them. Her clergy are clothed in 
violet, the color of fasting and of penance for sin ; her 
altars and her temples wear a sombre hue, for she is 
waiting for her Lord. The chants and the music sounds 
no more of joy and of gladness, for she sits in mourning 
and in sadness. The joyful song of the angelic host, the 
" Glory be to God in the Highest " is stopped till the 
midnight Mass of Christmas. The exultant hymn of SS. 
Augustin and of Ambrose, " Thee, O God, we praise," is 
no more said in the office. 3 In her ceremonies and her 
services the Church breathes only of sorrow, of penance, 
of affliction and of repentance, all to renew in the mind 
of men the state of the world before the coming of Christ 
and to prepare the soul for his coming at Christmas. 
The "Go,ihe dismissal is at hand" is not said, but in 
its place "Let us bless the Lord," the remains of the 
ancient custom when the people waited after the ser- 
vices for the prayers of sorrow and of penance said in 
Advent when the Masses were ended. The people are 

1 Fabri Condones, vol. 1, Con. 11, p. 111. 2 M. Le Vicomte Walsh, Tab. Poet, des 
Fet. Chret., p. 55, 3 C de pala. sacra largi L. Scrinei, in prin. L. 12. 4 El Porque 
de las Ceremonias.c, xxx. 



84 MEANING OF THE FOUR WEEKS. 

forbidden to marry, for the time of penance, of fasting 
and of prayer are not to be interfered with or broken 
by marriage feasts. The people are instructed in the 
churches and prepared for the holidays by frequently 
receiving the sacraments. Thus by the inspired hand 
of the Church in the days of old that time of Advent was 
taken and set apart as a time of preparation for the com- 
ing of our Lord. 

The holy Church, our mother, with tears of sorrow, and 
with works of penance awaits the coming of her founder 
and her Lord in the first week of Advent, and for that 
reason the Mass is filled with passages taken from the 
Prophets and from the Old Testament, who sent up their 
supplications to the throne of grace, for the coming of their 
Saviour, and to them the Church adds her desires, and 
sends her prayers to the ear of God the Eternal Father, 
who sent his Son to redeem the world, that he may send 
him again to continue that work of the redemption and 
save the individuals of the race of Adam. In the second 
week we wait for the coming of the Lord into the hearts 
of men in the Holy Eucharist, that he may visit his peo- 
ple, the hierarchy who rule the Church, the people who 
make the Church, the people who do not practice their 
religion, the persons who do not belong to the Church, 
the enemies who oppose her, the pagans and the infidels, 
and all, that coming he may come, and give to them a 
new heart and a new mind to know and to serve their 
Lord and their Redeemer. In the third week the Church 
looks to the coming of the Lord at the death of each one, 
when our work is done which he has given to each to do ; 
when at the death-bed scene the dying Christian says to 
the Lord, " Come, Lord Jesus," 1 when with the spirits of 
the blessed saints, the "spirit and the bride say, Come, and 
she that heareth him say Come." 2 The third week we cele- 
brate the fourth coming of the Lord, when that "day of 
calamity, that great and awful bitter day" shall end the 
world, "when God will come to judge the world by fire." 3 

If thus the holy Church passes the time of Advent in 
preparing for the coming of the Lord in his four-fold visit 
to his creatures, we must unite ourselves to her and be 
filled with the same spirit. For the Church is not made 

1 Apoc. xxii. 20. 2 Apoc. xxii. 17. 3 De Exequiis. 



THE YEARS BEFORE CHRIST. 85 

up of the wood and bricks and the stones, which make 
the building, but of the bodies and the souls of the 
people, for we are the " temple of the Holy Spirit," 1 
and like living stones and bricks we make the Church, 
scattered throughout the world, and each one of us is the 
object of the love of God, forming the Church bought by 
his blood. 

Let us then join our hearts to our Church during the 
four weeks of Advent, going back in memory to the four 
thousand years of the ancient world before the time of 
Christ. We see they were times when the darkness of 
paganism covered the minds of men, the times when 
the law of God was far from the children of Adam, the 
times when the false gods of the Assyrians were wor- 
shipped on the banks of the Euphrates, when the rows of 
the winged bulls lined the avenues leading up to the 
vast temples of the heathen worshippers of Babylon; 
when the grandeurs of ancient Thebes reared its tombs 
and its temples on the shores of the Nile, when the ancient 
dynasties of the Pharaohs ruled the land of Egypt, when 
their dead were embalmed and laid away in the massive 
sepulchres and in the pyramids now standing on the 
Nile, to the times of the mythology of Athens and Rome, 
to the time when the religion of Buddha first rose on 
the banks of the Ganges, when they invented the fables 
of the Yedas and corrupted the first revelation made to 
man in the garden of paradise ; when the Druid priests of 
the north of Eurojje were deceiving our forefathers by 
the pagan rites of Woden and of Friga, when all nations 
were corrupted from the law of God, when the race so 
much needed the teachings of the Saviour. Let us go 
back to that olden time and see if there was one who 
worshipped God in spirit and in truth, and history will say 
no, not one, but those of the Hebrew race who were kept 
from falling like their neighboring nations by the rites 
and the services of the tabernacle and the temple, built 
by Moses and by Solomon, that by these quaint services 
and grand ceremonies of the church of the Israelites the 
people of God might keep before their eyes the coming 
and the death of their Messiah and their Lord. Thus we 
see how man must keep before his mind in the services of 
our Church, the first coming of the Saviour. 

1 1 Cor. vi. 19. 



86 THE WOKLD AT PEESENT. 

Again let us join our hearts to our Church during the 
four weeks of Advent, going into the hearts of men and 
seeing how they need the coming of their Lord in Holy 
Communion. We see the mind of man turned from God, 
the life of the soul dead by sin, the Holy Spirit fled from 
the heart, man made for God worshipping the world, his 
blood like a poisonous stream flowing in his veins, temp- 
tations dwelling in his members, his mind poisoned with 
error, his will rebelling against the restraint of his supe- 
riors, the people and their rulers rejecting the church, 
heresies multiplying, infidelity gaining every day, and 
those nations of the north of Europe, once the fairest 
parts of the Church, torn from her motherly bosom and 
lashed with the storms of every doctrine. We see the 
members of the Church grown cold in their religion, their 
children growing up without instruction and families 
falling away, all because the people do not live up to 
their Church and go frequently to the sacraments. 
Behold how the world wants the Lord to come in Holy 
Communion and fill the hearts and the souls of his people 
with the life of himself, and live in them the life which is 
beyond the strength of nature. 

Yet again let us unite ourselves to the Church in this 
holy time of Advent, and let us see how men die. We 
see what millions of men never heard of the Gospel, 
what nations unconverted, what races lost, what numbers 
of people upon their bed of death depart from this World 
like so many animals, no fear of the future, no thought of 
eternity, no dread of hell, no sorrow for the past, no 
repentance for wickedness, no faith in the rewards of 
heaven, no desire to escape the future punishments ; 
they die like beasts. Thus as the waters of the rivers 
rolling on to be buried in the ocean, we are drifting 
onward on the waves of time, to be buried in the fathom- 
less abyss of eternity, from which we will never return 
to take our place again upon the earth, and when the Son 
of God will come to each one at the moment of his death, 
how many will he find ready and waiting for his coming ; 
how many will have their house in order and the account 
of their stewardship ? Thus the Church prays that when 
the Lord comes at the moment of the death of her 
children he may find them ready to receive the rewards 
awaiting with his glory in the mansions of his bliss. 



THE LAST JUDGMENT. 87 

Still again let us enter into the spirit of the Church, 
and guided by the prophets of old, inspired by the Spirit 
of the Lord, and taught by the words of Christ in the 
Gospels of the Evangelists, let us look to the future, to 
that time at the death of the world, when in power and 
in majesty for the fourth time the Lord will come to 
judge mankind, when he will take his place on Calvary's 
top and all the races of men will come before his face, 
when from the burned world as from a mighty tomb the 
dead shall rise to judgment, when the angels will 
separate the good from the bad and place them on the 
right and on the left, and the just will ascend to heaven 
to enjoy the sight of God forever, and the bad shall be 
driven into the fire which will never quench, there to 
burn with everlasting torments as long as God will be 
God for the sins they committed in the flesh. Such are 
the thoughts the holy Church places before her children 
during the time of Advent. 

I. — The First Sunday of Advent. 

The first Sunday of Advent is the fourth before we 
celebrate the birth of Christ, and always falls on the 
nearest Sunday to the feast of St. Andrew. 1 The Church, 
waiting for the coming of her founder and her Lord, 
during the whole of this holy Season, says in her services 
and in her offices, " Come, let us adore the Lord, the 
coming King." 2 Again we cry out continually, ''Drop down 
•dew, ye heavens, from above, let the clouds rain the just: 
let the earth be opened and bud forth a Saviour," 3 fore- 
telling the words of the Angel Gabriel to Mary : " The 
Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the 
most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the 
Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son 
of God." 4 In the deep figurative language of the 
Hebrews the work of the Holy Ghost in the mystery of 
the Incarnation is likened to the shadows cast by the 
clouds upon the earth. It was the same Holy Ghost, 
who, in the figure of the cloud upon the mount of Tabor, 
overshadowed our Lord in the wonders of the Transfigur- 

1 Nov. 30, O'B ien Hist, of the Mass, p. 138, note. 2 Brev. Roman, I.,Dom. Adv. 
3 Is. xlv., 8. 4 Luke i., 35, 



88 ADVENT SERVICES. 

ation, and he was the cloud which Moses entered on the 
mount of Sinai at the giving of the law. 

The earth which is asked to bud forth the Saviour is the 
Blessed Virgin, who brought forth the Lord while re- 
maining a Virgin. The earth which is asked to put forth 
the Saviour is the heart of man, which is asked to open by 
love and to bring forth the Lord at the Christmas time. 

To-day the Station is at the great Church of St. Mary 
Major, where they guarded from the fourth century the 
manger in which our Lord was laid when he was wrapped 
in swaddling clothes at his birth. For that reason 
this venerable church is sometimes called St. Mary at the 
Manger. We see the wisdom of choosing this church in 
which to salute from afar the coming of the Lord in the 
Divine Birth at Christmas. 

In the Offices of the Breviary the Church begins the 
Prophecy of the great Isaias, who was the greatest of all 
the men of old, raised up by the Lord to do his mighty 
works. Of all the prophets, Isaias most clearly foretold 
the coming of the Lord. From this time till Christmas 
the words of Isaias, the greatest of Israel's inspired 
prophets are read. The Offices of the clergy, such as we 
read in Advent, appears to have been arranged by Pope 
Gregory the Great, 1 but his was only a work of revision 
of the Advent part which came down from the most early 
times, the first revision having been made by St. Jerome 
in the fourth century. 

The whole service of the Church on this Sunday 
breathes our desires for the coming of our Lord. Every 
word is like a strong desire of the heart of man, looking 
for his coming. The last year has closed with the sad 
history of the destruction of the world, and with the 
scene of the general judgment as foretold by the prophets 
and given by our Lord. This Sunday opens the Year. It 
is the beginning of the year according to the Church, 
while the civil year begins on the 1st of January. As 
the time of Christmas draws nearer and nearer our joy 
and happiness increases. The Church our mother wishes 
not to disturb our joy towards Christmas by the sad 
thoughts of the fourth coming of our Lord at the last 
and general judgment. For that reason we read the 

1 Durandus Rationale Div. L. vi., c. iii., n. 2. 



-WITHOUT SIN. 89 

Gospel 1 of the destruction of the world on the first 
Sunday of Advent. Another reason is that as it is the 
first day of the religious year we should all remember 
our last end and the last end of the world. 

II. — The Immaculate Conception. 

The Immaculate 2 Conception of the Virgin took place 
when God united to her body an immortal soul. 3 Joakim 
and Anna were her parents, and some of the old 
Apocryphal writings give many reasons why she was 
related to some of the Apostles, by which they were 
called the brethren of our Lord through Mary, a younger 
sister of the Holy Virgin, for according to the customs of 
the Jews, cousins were called brothers. 

Joakim and Anna had no children, but by the power of 
the Lord, Mary, their first child, was born to them. 
Before God foreshadowed her conception by the birth of 
Isaac, 4 of Samuel, 5 and later the birth of Christ by the 
miraculous sanctifi cation of St. John the Baptist. 6 

In the beginning God made our mother Eve immacu- 
late and without sin. When she fell God, speaking of 
her fall, said to the devil : "I will put enmities between 
thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed : she 
shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her 
heel." 7 By these words the Lord meant that from the 
seed of the fallen race would rise another Eve, created as 
beautiful and as perfect as our fallen mother and one who 
would resist the serpent's guile. God from eternity had 
chosen Mary to become his Mother. " I was set up from 
eternity, and of old before the earth was made." 8 He 
chose her to be as an impregnable rampart against the 
wiles of the demons. " Who is she that cometh forth as 
the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, 
terrible as an army set in array." 9 She was conceived 
without sin, as the Holy Ghost says of her : " Thou art 
all fair, O, my love, and there is not a spot in thee." 10 
The whole of Solomon's song called the Canticle of 
Canticles is but the inspired words of Israel's greatest 

1 Luke xxi. 3 The word immaculate comes from the Latin and means pure and 
without spot. 3 Benedictus XIV., Be Festis B. Mariae Virginis, c. xv., n. i. * Gen. 
xviii., xxi. 5 1 Kin-is. i. 6 Luke 1. 7 Gen, iii., 15. 8 Prov. viii., 23. 9 Cant, of 
Cant, vi., 9, i0 Cant, of Cant, iv., 7, 



90 HISTOEY OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. 

king 1 in the name of the Holy Ghost speaking of the 
beauties and of the graces of Mary. 

The most early writers speak of the wonders of the 
Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God. They 
preached some of their most sublime sermons in her 
praises, telling us that as the breaking light of the early 
morning comes to remind us of the rising of the sun, 
thus Mary came into this world of sin as the forerunner 
of the Son of justice, her divine child. We cannot give all 
the reasons of Mary's greatness here, as it would be out 
of place in matters relating to the feasts of the year. 2 
God could have created her so that she was never under 
original sin. He could have created her so that 
she would have been for a time in sin, or in the first 
instant of her creation she might be free from sin. 3 
The Blessed Virgin, the Mother of our Lord, was never 
an enemy of God, neither by reason of actual sin nor 
by reason of original sin ; but she would have been born 
with the sin of Adam had she not been preserved. 4 The 
subtle doctor Scotus held and proved this truth before 
the whole faculty of the great University of Paris in the 
presence of the most learned men of the world, in a 
solemn convention presided over by the legates of the 
Holy See. 

The feast of the Immaculate Conception is not new in 
the Church. Its commencement is lost . in the earliest 
times. The Greeks, keeping to the traditions of the 
Apostles, celebrated that feast from the earliest ages, 
even beyond the sixth century, as we can see by their 
Ceremonials and Liturgical works. 5 The Gothic Church 
of Spain celebrated the feast in the eighth century, 6 and 
we see that Paul, the Deacon, who was at first secretary to 
Charlemagne, when he became a monk at Mont-Casin he 
composed a beautiful hymn in honor of the Immaculate 
Conception. After a miracle in favor of the pious Helsin 
in 1066, the feast was celebrated in England for the first 
time. After that, by the labors of the great St. Anselm, 
Archbishop of Canterbury, it was spread throughout the 
British Isles, 7 from where it passed into Normandy, and 
was celebrated by the whole French nation. In 1049 we 

1 Solomon. 2 LesTresoes de Cornelius A. Lapide, Mane. 3 Scotus L. iii., Sent. Dist. 
3, q. i. n. 1. 4 Scotus Dist. 18, n. 13. 5 Cer. S. Sab. 6 El Porque de las Ceremonies 
JTat, Cuar,, Cap. Prim, 7 El Porque de las Ceremonias, Ibidem. 



92 IN ANCIENT TIMES. 

find it in Germany, for it is mentioned by a council pre- 
sided over by the great Fope St. Leo X. 1 We find it 
again in Belgium, at Liege, in 1142. After that time we 
find that it was spoken of in all parts of Europe. 

In 1476, Sixtus IY., stating that it was always, and from 
the beginning, celebrated in the Church, granted a decree 
by which the feast was celebrated with great pomp and 
ceremony in the eternal city, and the capital of the world 
vied with the other churches, peoples and nations in 
honoring the glories of the Immaculate Conception. In 
the following century 2 Pope Pius Y. published his edi- 
tion of the Breviary, by which all the Breviaries which 
for the two hundred years before that time had been pub- 
lished, and had been changing, were then forbidden, and 
the old Breviary was restored to the whole Church. ' There 
we find the feast of the Immaculate Conception in its 
place as one of the chief feasts of the year. 

The three great Catholic nations of Europe, France, 
Germany and Spain, each showed their love of the Yirgin, 
Mother of God. By the request of the great Louis XIY., 
France obtained from Pope Clement IX. the favor of 
celebrating the feast with an Octave, a favor which was 
extended to the whole Church by Innocent XII. Long 
before that time the faculty of the University of Paris 
directed the professors to preach on the wonders of the 
Mother of God conceived immaculate. Ferdinand III., 
the Emperor of Germany, in 1647, erected in the grand 
square of Yienna a beautiful column adorned with em- 
blems and figures, typical of the victory gained by Mary 
over the old serpent. That column was crowned with a 
statue of the Immaculate Mother of God. Spain has 
always been celebrated for her love of Mary. In 1393, 
John I., King of Aragon, by a royal decree, placed himself 
and his kingdom under the protection of Mary conceived 
without sin. Afterwards King Philip III. and Philip IY 
of Spain, sent their ambassadors to Rome, asking that 
her Immaculate Conception be proclaimed, but it was put 
off till our time. Charles III. 3 obtained from Clement 
XIII. the favor of celebrating the feast of the Immaculate 
Conception as the patron festival of the Spanish kingdom. 
The good and pious people used to write on the doors 

* Concil Navar. 2 1568. 3 El Porque de las Ceremonias Trad. Cuar. C, P., n. 1, 



THE ARMENIANS, COPTS, ETC. 93 

and in the fronts of their houses the praises and the 
glories of Mary, Mary of Jesus. The Mother Superior of 
the convent of the Immaculate Conception, wrote a book 1 
from which the great painter, Murillo, the pride of Spain, 
drew his inspiration in painting those masterpieces which 
even in our day excite the wonder of the world. 2 

From the earliest of the histories of the Armenians, of 
the Copts and of the Alexandrians, 3 we learn that they 
celebrated from their very beginning the feast of the Im- 
maculate Conception. Matthew Parisius says, that when 
the Archbishop of Armenia came to England, he was asked 
by one of the monks if they celebrated the feast of the 
Immaculate Conception in his country, and he replied : 
"It is celebrated; and this is the reason, because, when 
Joachim was sorrowful in the desert, an angel told him 
that the conception had taken place. In the same way 
the conception of St. John the Baptist, and for the same 
reason. Regarding the conception of the Lord which 
was announced to Mary by the angel, whom she con- 
ceived by the Holy Ghost, there is no doubt among the 
Faithful." 4 The Basilion Council decreed, that she was 
conceived without sin. The Council of Trent, when 
speaking of the sin of Adam having been transmitted to 
all his children, stated that they did not wish to say that 
Mary was under that penalty, but made an exception for 
her. 5 Many councils have spoken the same regarding 
the privileges of Mary. 6 Many Popes have, from the 
chair of Peter, taught the world of the spotless concep- 
tion of the Mother of God. 7 It remained for our day to 
declare to the world the Apostolic tradition of the won- 
ders of Mary. The great Pontiff, Pius IX., on the 8th 
of December, 1854, in the presence of fifty-four cardinals, 
forty-two archbishops and ninety- two bishops, surrounded 
with thousands of clergymen and numberless people 
from all parts of the world, in St. Peter's, the cathedral 
of the world, proclaimed that the truth of the Immac- 
ulate Conception was revealed by God. From every 
part of the world prayers had gone up before the throne 
of God for the light and the help of the Holy Ghost, and 

1 Mystic City of God. 2 Gueranger L'Avent, p. 414. 3 El Porqne Trat. 4. 4 Bene- 
dictus XIV., De Festis B. Marine Virginis, c. xv , n. 17 in fine. 5 Concil. Trident S. 
v. n. 5, in fine. 6 See Concil. Trident S. vi., can. xxiii. 7 Sixtus IV., c. 1, 2, Extrav. 
Com. iii., etc. 



94 THE GOLDEN KOSE AND SILVER LILY. 

the Pontiff had joined his voice to the universal cry to 
God. The oracle of God spoke the truth waited for so 
long. The Holy Sacrifice was offered on the Confession 
of St. Peter. The hand of the Pope had placed the 
diadem on the head of the statue of the Virgin. The 
Yicar of Christ is carried on his brazen throne, the tiara, 
the triple crown, decks the head of the successor of Peter, 
the fisherman, and the procession comes to the door of 
the great Basilica. There, on bended knees, he meets the 
two followers of the Seraphic St. Francis, one the General 
of the Minor Observances, the other the General of the 
Minor Conventuals. One presented to him a beautiful 
golden rose, the other a brilliant silver lily. The lily 
and the rose, the most beautiful of the flowers of the field, 
represent the purity and the burning love of Mary. 1 

That was the day when the spotless conception of Mary 
was proclaimed as having been revealed to man, but hid- 
den in an obscure manner in the holy Scriptures. 

III. — The Second Sunday of Advent. 

The Second Sunday of Advent relates to the second 
coming of our Lord, when he comes to his beloved in Holy 
Communion, to strengthen our faith in this his second 
coming. Many words and parts of the services of this 
day allude to his first coming as a little child, that those 
who believe he came and took the form of man at his 
birth, may be strengthened in the faith of the Blessed 
Eucharist. The mystery of the Incarnation has such a 
close relationship with the mystery of the Eucharist, 
that they are often mentioned together in the ceremonies 
and the rites of the Church. 

Jerusalem has many meanings in the Scriptures and the 
services of the Church. Josephus says that in the Book 
of Genesis it was named Salem, the city of the high 
priest Melchesadeck, who offered bread and wine, a 
figure of the priests of the new law. 2 The word Jerusa- 
lem in ancient Hebrew means " the possession of peace," 
for it signifies the heavenly city, our home beyond the 
skies. Many are the meanings of the word in the Holy 
Bible. To-day, in the services of the Church, it signi- 

1 Gueranger L'Avent, p. 415. 2 Bib. S. Concordantia, nota Jerusalem. 



THE ROOT OF JESSE. 95 

ftes the soul of the Christian preparing for the coming of 
bur Lord in the Sacrament of the altar. 

What wonders, what love, what consolation for the 
sonl of man, and what stupendous humiliations for the 
Son of God to come down, and day by day to renew forever 
the mystery of the Incarnation by the mystery of the 
Eucharist, by becoming the food of man. But how few 
receive him often. How few receive the Bread of Life, 
which makes them strong to resist the temptations which 
are everywhere around the path of the Christian. 

The whola office of this Sunday is filled with hope and 
joy for the good souls of those who are waiting for the 
coming of our Lord, 1 the spouse of the Christian soul. 

The Station, according to the Mass Book, is held in 
Borne, in the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, 
the venerable church in which Constantine placed the 
part of the true Cross his mother Helena sent him from 
Jerusalem. At the same time there they placed the 
title written by Pilate, "Jesus the Nazarine, King of 
the Jews." These precious relics are guarded there in 
that holy church, 2 which in the Latin rite is considered 
as Jerusalem itself, as we see by the many allusions 
to it in the services of the Church during the year, there 
many Masses are celebrated within its sacred walls. 

At the Matin office we read the magnificent words of 
Isaias, where he foretells the time when the root of 
Jesse will bring forth the flower, 3 : 'That branch of 
Jesse," says St. Jerome, "is the Virgin Mary, while the 
flower is the Saviour himself, who says in the Canticle of 
Canticle, ' I am the flower of the field and the lily of the 
valleys.' " 4 All ages have celebrated the beauties of that 
wonderful flower. " The Son of the Virgin is the flower, 
the flower white and purple, chosen among all others — 
a flower, the sight of which fills the angels with joy, and 
the odor of which gives life to men," says St. Bernard. 
Thus the flower of the root of Jesse, the father of David, 
was to be our Lord the Saviour of the world, foretold by 
the Prophets, foreseen by the Sibyl of the pagan nations. 
For as a dim shadow the revelation of the coming Saviour 
came down through the mists of idolatry till it found its 



1 Gueranger L'Avent, p. 157. 2 I/An Lit. par Gueranger L'Avent, p. 157. 3 Is 
si., 1. 4 Cant, of Cant. ii. 1. 



96 THE GLADFUL SUNDAY. 

expression in the words of the prince of the poets of 
ancient times. 1 

IV. — The Third Sunday oe Adyent. 

The Mass said on this Sunday is called the Station at 
St. Peters, that is, in St. Peter's Church at Rome, the 
great Church of the Vatican, the Cathedral of the world, 
the building covering the relics of the Apostle St. Peter, 
certainly the grandest temple ever raised by the hand 
of man to the worship of the true God. 

On the third Sunday of Advent the Church celebrates 
the third coming of the Lord, when he will come to each 
of us at the moment of our death. Although the hour 
when we leave this world may be a time of sorrow for 
our friends, the Church looks upon it as the moment of 
gladness, when we enter the everlasting happiness of 
heaven. For that reason on the third Sunday the "tones 
of the organ, hushed since Advent began, are heard again 
resounding throughout the vaulted ceilings of our 
temples, the flowers of the valleys bloom upon our altars, 
the deacon and the sub deacon take their dalmatic and 
their tunic, in the cathedrals the bishops are clothed in 
gorgeous vestments, the magnificent poetry of the 
ceremonies are resumed, the Church rejoices, for she is 
celebrating the taking of her children from this exile of 
sorrow to the world of bliss beyond the skies. 

For that reason, from the most ancient times the sorrow 
and the gloom of Advent is broken by the joyful services 
of this Sunday. From the first word with which the 
Mass begins " Gaudete," rejoice, to-day is called Gaudete 
Sunday, 2 for the Church rejoices at the ending of the 
trials of her children here below. In the same way the 
fourth Sunday of Lent is called Laetare Sunday, from 
the first word of the services, "Laetare," rejoice. Thus 
it shows the spirit of the Church, that the soul of man 
may not be exposed to the sin of despair during the two 
great seasons of fasting and of penance, of Advent and of 
Lent, and for that reason she relaxes somewhat in the 
rigors of penance on the third Sunday of Advent, and on 
the fourth Sunday of Lent. 

1 Virgil, "Jam rediit et virgo." 2 O'Brien Hist, of the Mass, p. 65. 



THE EMBEE DAYS. 97 

The week following the third Sunday of Advent is de- 
voted to the quater tenses or Ember days. The qua- 
ter tenses come down to us from the customs of the Jews, 
and in the Church the fast of Wednesday, Friday and 
Saturday of the quater tenses of the four seasons of the 
year goes back to the time of the Apostles. Such is the 
testimony of St. Leo, of St. Isidore, of Sevill, of Khaban 
Maur, and of many of the most ancient and venerable of 
the writers of antiquity. In the first ages of the Church 
the fast of the quater tenses were fixed at the time of 
the year when we observe them at present. By some of 
the Fathers they are called the Three Times of Fasting, 
because the quater tense of the Spring, falling the ,first 
week of Lent, add nothing to the fast, for, by the law of 
Lent, all were then obliged to fast. The object of the 
fast for the quater tenses, both among the Jews and in 
the Church, is to sanctify the four seasons of the year by 
prayer and fasting. 

In ancient times the quater tenses of Advent were 
callled the Fast of the Sixth Month. St. Leo tells us 
that the quater tenses were fixed at this time of the 
year because all the fruits of the earth having been gath- 
ered, it is only right that we should return thanks to the 
Lord for his bounty toAvards us. 

Besides the consecration of the four seasons of the 
year, the quater tenses are times of fasting and of prayer, 
because on the Saturday of the week closing those fasts, 
the clergy are ordained, and the ordination of the clergy 
does not usually take place at any other time except there 
be some sufficient reason. According to the Latin rite 
the ordination of the month of December at the quater 
tenses, is very ancient and goes back to the time of the 
Apostles. It was but natural that they would choose this 
time of prayer and of fasting, when the people by their 
self-denial and their prayers would call down the bless= 
ings of Heaven on the newly ordained clergy of the 
Church. We find in the short lives of the Popes in the 
Breviary, that many of them ordained the clergy in the 
month of December, following the Apostolic time. 

The Station of Wednesday is in the Church of St. Mary 
Major, in Borne, because the Gospel gives at the Mass 



1 St. Leo Sermo II., de Jejun. decern, men. et Coll. 



98 ANCIENT FASTING. 

the history of the Angel Gabriel coming to announce to 
Mary the mystery of the Incarnation. We fast on Wed- 
nesdays of the quater tenses, because on Wednesday the 
Jews conspired to put our Lord to death. On Friday the 
Station is held in the Church of the Twelve Apostles. 
We cannot find out why the services are held here, 
except that it is one of the churches built by the Emperor 
Constantine, who first gave liberty to the Church, spread 
throughout the world by the preaching of the Apostles. 
According to St. Augustine, the Christians of Rome were 
accustomed to fast on Wednesdays, fridays and Satur- 
days, from their very conversion. 1 It appears that the 
Romans learned to fast on Saturday from the example of 
St. Peter, who fasted on Saturday before he began his 
celebrated discussion with Simon Magus. 2 Saturday, 
the Station is held in the great Church of St. Peter, 
because there the ordinations take place and great crowds 
of people come to see the ordination rites, which accord- 
ing to the custom and the canons of the Church are held 
on the Saturday before Christmas. 

V. — The Foukth Sunday of Advent. 

If the fourth Sunday of Advent falls on the 24th of 
December, it is omitted, then the Yigil takes its place 
when Christmas falls on monday. 3 We have now come 
to the last Sunday before we celebrate the coming of our 
Lord ; the day differs each year. The anniversary of the 
birth of the Saviour may come on monday or any other 
day of the week. The Church waiting for His coming 
clothes her ceremonies with greater splendors since the 
17th of December. As the days pass she varies the 
Antiphons. At Lauds and Vespers, she expresses the 
joyful tenderness of her wishes for his coming, while at 
the Masses she takes from the Prophets the most brilliant 
language, to show the people her joy at the birth of her 
Spouse. She strikes the last stroke to wake her children 
from their sleep in worldly things, and calls them to the 
knowledge of the glorious birth of their Saviour. She 
leads them into the desert, she shows them John the 
Baptist preaching penance, whose voice reaches even to 

1 S. Aug. Ep, xxxvl, n. 9 a S. Aug. Epist. xxxvi., 21. 3 Gueranger Adv., 243. 



CHRISTMAS EVE. 99 

our day, and teaches us to prepare for the coming of our 
Lord. 

The fourth Sunday of Advent is called " Borate," rain 
down, because by this word the Mass begins, or " Canite 
tuba," the first words of the first response of Matins. 
Thus, to-day, the Church sounds for the last time the 
trumpet of the Lord, to wake her children from their 
slumbers of forgetfulness of God, and to receive his only 
Son. We read the stirring words of St. John the Baptist 
preparing the way before the Lord. The voice of the 
holy and austere forerunner of Christ prepares the Christ- 
ians for the coming of their Saviour. He preaches pen- 
ance for the remission of sin. He warns the hardened 
hearts of the reprobate Pharisees. To-day his trumpet 
tones are sounded through the length and breadth of 
Christendom, and in every church his warning words tell 
the Christians to come and receive their Lord. 

The station where the services are held, is at the tomb 
of the Twelve Apostles, where are guarded the relics of 
the twelve followers of our Lord. 

From the earliest days of the Church they prepared for 
the feast of Christmas by celebrating the Vigil or Eve. 
They spent the night in the churches singing Psalms and 
reading parts of the Holy Bible. From that holy Book, 
from the writing of the great Saints, they formed the 
Office of Christmas Eve. This Office of the Breviary, in 
the monasteries and the houses of the religious orders, 
took up the greater part of the night. The people in the 
Middle Ages gathered in great crowds in the churches to 
pray, to hear the Offices sung, and to be present at the 
midnight mass of Christmas. 

Among these night Offices of the Church, Christmas 
Eve from the preaching of the Apostles was of great de- 
votion and of solemnity because the Lord was born at 
the midnight hour. Of all times of the year this is the 
only night we can say Mass at midnight, to celebrate the 
hour when Christ was born. We find it mentioned by 
many writers of antiquity that the people were accus- 
tomed to spend the whole night in the church in prayer. 
At Eome for many ages they had two Offices of Matins, 
the first in the Basilica of St. Mary Major, followed by 
the midnight Mass of Christmas, celebrated by the Pope 
himself. Then all the people went in procession to the 



100 THREE HOLY PLACES. 

Church of St. Anastasia, where as the morning was break- 
ing he said the second Mass. Having finished, they all 
gathered in the great Church of St. Peter's, where they 
began the second Nocturn, and at the end the Pope cele- 
brated the third Mass at nine in the morning. 1 Those 
Offices of Christmas Eve began in the great Church of 
St. Mary Major, because there is preserved the Manger 
of Bethlehem, where our Lord was laid when wrapped in 
swaddling clothes. 

Three places in the world are holy from their relations 
to the birth of our Lord. The first of these is Beth- 
lehem, where is seen the grotto where Christ was brought 
into the world. What pious and holy thoughts rise in 
the mind of the Christian in visiting really or in thought 
that holy place where the Man-God first left the foot- 
prints of his coming in the mystery of the Incarnation. 
The second place is Borne, from where the God-Man 
speaks to the world by the mouth of his the Supreme 
Pontiff, where in the Basilica of St. Mary Major are kept 
with care the Manger wherein our Lord was laid the 
night of his birth, where is still to be seen the picture of 
the Mother of God, painted by St. Luke ; and that Church 
standing on the Esquiline hill, brilliant in marble, gold 
and precious stones, proclaims itself the most magnificent 
temple raised by man to the honor and to the memory of 
the Mother of God. As from her the Son of God took 
human nature, by her began the mystery of the Incarna- 
tion. How appropriate then to begin the ceremonies of 
the Christmas time in the great church built in Mary's 
honor. The third holy place is the tomb of the Apostle 
St. Peter himself, the spot where rest the bones of the 
greatest follower of the Lord. These relics rest on the 
Vatican Hill, where on the same day he was put to 
death. The Pope, when his strength allows, says the 
third Mass of Christmas in the Cathedral of the world, in 
St. Peters magnificent Church, near the tomb of the 
great Apostle, the last Mass of Christmas is offered up 
to the throne of God by the Vicar of Christ. 2 The fourth 
holy place is the heart of man, which the Bedeemerborn 
on Christmas night comes to purify, and the feasts of 



1 Amalarius, and other Liturgists- of the XII. century. Antiphon, of the Roman 
Church, etc. 2 Gueranger Le Temps De Noel, p. 172 to 175. 



THE SWOBD AND HELMET. 101 

this holy time with all their sweetness will not be cele- 
brated by us rightly, unless Christ conies to us and takes 
up his abode with us 1 in the sacrament of his love the 
Holy Communion. 

As the Infant born to us is God, the Mighty, the Prince 
of Peace with the government on his shoulder 2 ; to honor 
that power of the Son of God, since the two great Princes 
of antiquity, Clovis and Charlemagne, came to Eome at 
the Christmas time, the Eve before the Yicar of that 
same Lord, in the name of God, blesses a sword and a 
helmet to be given to some Christian Prince, that like Don 
Juan at Lepanto, 3 he may overcome the enemies of God. 
That sword is sent to one whom the Pope wishes to honor, 
in the name Christ himself, who is the King of kings, and 
the Lord of lords, of whom the angel said to Mary : " The 
Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David, his 
father." 4 From him alone comes the power of the sword, 
and as by a sword in the hands of an angel the Lord 
" slew a hundred and eighty-five thousand " of the Asy- 
rians", 5 as he said to Cyrus, " I girded thee," 6 to do his work 
among the ancient nations of the earth, as he says to Christ 
by his prophets, " Gird the sword upon thy thigh, O thou 
most mighty," 7 thus the Christian Prince is to draw the 
sword only in a just war. For that reason these symbols 
of war, the sword and the helmet, are blessed in the 
church, the temple of justice, on Christmas Eve. On the 
helmet is an image of the Holy Spirit formed of pearls, 
telling that not according to passion, or according to his 
own caprice, must the Christian king go forth to war, but in a 
just cause led by the wisdom of the Spirit of God. 8 How 
wonderful is Rome in her ceremonies, and long is the list 
of the Heroes, the Generals, the Princes, the Kings and 
the Emperors she has blessed and crowned since the most 
remote ages in the ceremonies of Christmas Eve, when in 
the Middle Ages she was their mother, and the nations 
of Europe were like children under her maternal care. 

Where the Latin rite is carried out entirely, the people 
having gathered in the Church, the clergy sing matins on 
Christmas Eve. It is divided into three Nocturns or 
watches. The first signifies and recalls the first age of 



1 John xiv., 23. 2 Is. ix., 6. 3 1571. 4 Luke i., 32. 5 4 Kings, xix., 35. fi Is. xlv., 5, 
Ps. xliv., 4. 8 Cardinal Polus in Letter to Philip II. and his Queen Mary, 



102 EMPEROKS ON CEREMONIES. 

the human race, the time of the Patriarchs, and in the 
Middle Ages, while they were singing the first watch the 
altar was covered with a black veil, to signify the curse 
of God upon the earth, and on man for his sin in the gar- 
den. The second Nocturn signifies the time of the cere- 
monies of the law of Moses, and the altar was covered 
with a white veil, to tell of the light of God revealed to 
man in the ceremonies of the temple and the tabernacle, 
and in the prophesies of the old law. The third Nocturn 
typifies the time of the Christian Church, and the altar 
was veiled in purple to bring to our minds the love of 
Christ for his Spouse the Church, in the ineffable union 
of our Lord with those who receive him in Holy Com- 
munion. 1 With sorrow we say that we cannot give these 
Offices of the Breviary, as they would make many books 
like this. 

At Rome the Prince or King, to whom the sword and 
helmet blessed before Matins are to be given, takes part 
in the ceremonies. He reads the fifth Lesson, for it 
tells of the great fight against the demon and of the mys- 
tery of the Incarnation, while the choir are singing the 
response " O Great Mystery," the master of ceremonies 
leads him to the Pope, before whom he draws his sword. 
Touching the earth with the point three times he brand- 
ishes it three times in a warlike manner, and then lets it 
rest on his left arm. He is then led to the rostrum, where 
taking off his helmet and clothed in cope he reads the 
Lesson. Such were some of the ceremonies of the Church 
in Rome in the Middle Ages, when the Christian warriors 
fought the Pagans before the Church taught them to turn 
their swords into plowshares. 2 

At the third Nocturn three parts of the three Gospels 
are read, which form parts of the three Masses of Christ- 
mas. 3 The Gospel read tells of the numbering of the 
people by Augustus Caesar. According to the Roman 
ceremonial it should be read by the Emperor himself, if 
he be at Rome, so as by that to honor the governments 
of the world ; for by the providence of God one of the 
most remarkable of the Emperors of old, Augustus, ruler 
of the Roman Empire, by that decree proved that Christ 



1 Gueranger, Le Temps De Noel, p. 183. 2 Gueranger, Le Temps De Noel, v. L, 
p. 208. 3 Luke c. ii., 1 ; Luke ii., 15 ; Luke iii., 5, and John i., 1. 



THE POPE AND EMPEROR. 103 

was born of the tribe of Judea, and of the family of David, 
as foretold by the prophets. The Emperor is led before 
the Pope, where he is robed with the cope. Then with 
a Cardinal-Deacon on each side, he ascends the rostrum, 
and there reads the passage of the Gospel. He then 
returns again to the feet of the Pope, he kisses his foot 
to honor the Yicar of Him who was born at Bethlehem, 
and returns to his place. We find that ceremony was 
carried out by the Emperor Frederic III. in the presence 
of Pope Paul II. as late as Christmas Eve in 1468. 

The text of the Gospels given are explained by St. 
Gregory the Great, St. Ambrose and St. Augustin, the 
three greatest Doctors of the Church, and who wrote the 
finest commentaries on the Gospels. The three watches 
of the night are now ended. The prophesies and the 
figures foretelling his coming have been read. The mid- 
night hour draws near. All has been prepared to cele- 
brate the birth of the Lord and Saviour of the world, and 
the Church is filled with people waiting for the midnight 
Mass of Christmas. 




St. Stephen's at Vienna. 



Chapter IV. — The Christmas Season. 



REASONS FOR CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS TIME. 

The Christmas season begins on the 25th of December 
and lasts till the 2d of February. In the cycle of the 
year, it is a special season like Advent, Lent, and Paschal 
Time, a time of joy, second only to the glorious days of 
the Easter times. It ends the days of fasting and of 
penance during Advent. 

The custom of celebrating for forty days the joyful 
time of Christmas dates from the most ancient times, for 
the early Christians learned from the Gospel that, ac- 
cording to the law of Moses, 1 when the days of her purifi- 
cation were accomplished, Mary carried her Son to the 
temple, and there, like the mothers of Israel, she pre- 
sented him to the Lord. 2 

It came to pass by the overruling hand of Providence, 
that Caesar Augustus, 3 the first Emperor of Rome, com- 
manded a census of the world to be taken, that he might 
know how many people lived under him in each of the 
provinces over which his empire extended, and the 
amount of tax he could levy on each. 4 That numbering 
of the people took place under Cyrinus, the Governor of 
Syria. 5 Only the men were called to give an account of 
their families, the women and children could stay at 
home. 6 But the Holy Virgin came because she was the 
only child and heir of her father's house. 7 Mary and 
Joseph therefore came from Nazareth to Bethlehem, to 
the city of their tribe, Juda, that Mary might represent 
her father's home, that in the records of the Roman Em- 
pire their names might be found, 8 and thus prove to the 
world, that Jesus was born at Bethlehem, of the tribe of 
Juda, and of the family. of David, as the prophets foretold 



1 Levit. xii. 2 Luke ii.. 22. 3 Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus. 4 Benedict XIV., 
De Festis D. N. Jesu Christi II., Ambrose, Bede Euth. and Meldonatus in Cap. ii., 
Lucae. 5 Luke ii., 2. 6 Calmet in ii., Lucae n. 4, 7 Benedict XIV., Ibidem 20. 
8 Tertullian against Marcion, book iv. 5 c. vii. 



106 THE CITY OF DAVID. 

more than seven hundred years before. 1 The Roman law 
relating to these things, says, that when the census was 
taken they should come from their own cities. 2 Thus 
Jesus was born at Bethlehem and not at Nazareth. 

We can imagine the children of the different tribes of 
Israel setting out for the towns and the cities of their 
fathers. 

The time foretold by the prophets had come. The 
Roman Empire had seen its highest power, as Balaam 
prophesied. The sceptre had departed from Juda as 
Jacob said, Herod the King of the Jews was but a 
crowned slave in the hands of the Romans, 3 when the 
Governor of Syria, beginning with Phoenecia and Celo- 
cyria, commenced the numbering of the people, so that 
three years after the decree went forth they came to 
Bethlehem. 

Fall was drawing to its close. The half tropical tor- 
rents were rushing down the valleys of Palestine. The 
cold wind moaned through the olive trees and the sky 
showed the signs of the coming winter on the morning of 
the 20th of December, 748, from the founding of Rome, and 
4,004 from the creation, when a man and a woman might 
be seen in one of the poorest houses of Nazareth pre- 
paring for a journey. 4 They were Mary and Joseph. 
They were going to Bethlehem to be enrolled. The dis- 
tance was 72 miles, and the tradition is. that they walked 
the whole distance, 5 for they were too poor to ride. 6 At 
length, when five days had passed, they came in sight of 
the turrets and flat roofed houses of Bethlehem, the city 
of their fathers, situated on a rising ground surrounded 
with green hills, smiling with vineyards, groves of olives, 
and forests of oak. 7 Crowds of people were coming from 
various parts of Palestine to be enrolled, and the hotels 
were full. There was no place for the poor old man and 
his young wife. Even in the city of David his descend- 
ants could not find a house to shelter them from the chilly 
air of that winter day. Before the gates of the city were 
closed for the night, they went outside the walls, and 
southward, a short walk from the city, they found a cave 

1 Lamy, Concord. Evnng. 1. i., c. 9, n. 1. 2 Ulpianus L. iii., Dig. de Censibus. 
3 Orsini's Life of the B. Virgin, c. xi. 4 Orsini's Life of the B. Virgin, c. xi. 5 Bene- 
dict XIV, De Festis D. N., J. C, cap. xvii. n. 14. 6 Orsini says, Mary rode on an 
ass, ibidem. 7 El Porque de las Ceremonias, Trat. Cuarto c. xiii. 



THE BIRTH OF CHRIST. 107 

in the rocks used as a stable, 1 or as a place of shelter for 
the shepherds, when watching their sheep on stormy 
nights. 2 There, on the 25th of December, at the mid- 
night hour; "while all things were in quiet silence, and 
the night was in the midst of her course, thy almighty 
word leaped down from Heaven from thy royal throne," 3 
when the brilliant constellation Virgin was rising in the 
eastern sky, 4 then the Virgin brought forth the Son of 
God. 

There are in Christ two natures, one Divine, the other 
human, and therefore to him alone belongs two births ; 
one in eternity from his Father, the other in time from 
his Mother. 5 His human nature came from Heaven as 
Valentin the heretic said, but was formed from the purest 
blood of his Mother like all our bodies are made, and 
therefore she is his Mother. 6 " The temporal birth of 
Christ took place like ours, because he was born for our 
salvation, and for that reason he was born of a woman 
in the regular time, but not like other children, but by the 
Holy Ghost and of a holy Virgin." 7 There was no human 
person in Christ, but in the place of the human person 
which is in each of us, was the Second Person of the 
Trinity. As all we do, or everything relating to us is 
attributed, not to the body or to the soul, but to you or 
to me, that is, to the person, thus everything relating to 
Christ is attributed not to his body or to his soul, but to 
his Person. That Person being Divine, it follows that he 
was born God. God was then born of Mary. Thus Mary 
is the Mother of God. 8 If human nature alone, or a man 
only, had been born of her, she would have been the 
mother of a man, or of that human nature ; but she was 
the Mother of the whole Being born of her, and as that 
Being was God, she was the Mother of God. 9 "As among 
men the soul is considered to be one with the body and 
born with it, if any one would say that the mother of the 
body is not the mother of the soul, he would talk fool- 
ishly. We see the same thing in the birth of Christ, for 
the word was born of the substance of God the Father, 



1 St. Jerome, Epist. 17; Eusebius, Vita Const., 1. ii. ; Origen, 1. i., con. Celsum. 

2 Orsini, Life of the B. Virgin, c. xi. 3 Wisdom, xviii., 14, 15. 4 Dupis in note in 
Orsini, ibidem. 5 St. Thomas, P. 3, q. xxxv., a. ii., et Syn. vi., act. ii. 6 St. Thomas, 

3 P., q. xxxv., a. iii. 7 St. Dama^cen, Orth. Fid., 1. iii. c. 7. 8 Concil. Ephes. Can. 
I., contra Nestrium. Concil. Chalcedon., A. vii., Sy. Via. II Concil. Lat. c. iii., St. 
Cyrillus Alex. St. Athanasius, St. Irenseus, etc. 9 St. Thomas, 3 P., q. xxxv., a. Jv. 



108 WHY BOBN IN BETHLEHEM. 

but because he took flesh we must confess that according 
to flesh he was born of a woman." 1 

He was born in Bethlehem, because he wished to show 
all men that he was of the tribe and of the family of 
David. 2 As David was born in Bethlehem and chose 
Jerusalem to be the city of his throne, that there he 
might prepare to build the great temple of the Lord for 
the sacrifices of the law, thus Christ was born in Beth- 
lehem, and died in Jerusalem. The sacrifice of his life for 
man's salvation was offered at Jerusalem. To give a les- 
son of humility, he was born in the little city of Beth- 
lehem, that men might see the lowness of his birth ; he 
was crucified at Jerusalem, that men might see the awful 
disgrace of his death, while he was brought up at Naza- 
reth, the lowest of all Judea, so that men might see 
nothing in him to attract the world to his teachings. 3 The 
whole life of the Saviour speaks the same wonderful provi- 
dence. If he had chosen the great city of Rome, men 
would say he changed the world by the power and au- 
thority of its great people. If he was the son of an Em- 
peror, men would say he got his power from his father's 
throne ; but that men might learn that by the grace of God 
alone the world was converted to the Gospel, he chose a 
poor mother ; 4 he was born of the race of Juda, the most 
despised of all the ancient nations ; he descended from the 
family of David, when they had lost the kingly power ; he 
was born in a stable, he was laid in a manger, and he was 
wrapped in swaddling clothes, that all the world might see 
that his power came not from the world but from God. 
And that he might still in a further manner show his guid- 
ing hand over his Church he was not born in Rome, lest 
men might think that the Church got her power and her 
authority from the Csesars. But when he had gone up 
into heaven, Peter, the first Pope, the rough, vulgar fisher- 
man of Galilee — Peter changed the papacy to Rome, and 
amid the' ten frightful persecutions of the following ages, 
when all the power of pagan Rome was hurled against 
that Church to crush her to the earth and wipe the name 
of Christ from the world, the Church came out in triumph, 
to show that she was of God. Truly, u the weak things of 



1 St. Cyrillus, in Epist. contra Nestorium, P. I., c 2, n. 12. 2 Rom, L, 3. 8 St. 
Thomas j 3, P. q. xxxv., A. vii., ad 2. 4 Theodore, Ancyr.. iii., c 9. 



THE PEIDE OF BIKTH. ,109 

the world hath God chosen that he may confound the 
strong." 1 

Other children are born when God sees fit. Christ 
chose his own time. 2 He came into the world at the time 
when Csesar commanded all his subjects to be enrolled. 
The Roman Empire bears witness of his royal birth, and 
Caesar without knowing it carried out the designs of God. 3 

At that time the whole world bowed down under the 
power of the Roman Emperor. All was peace, " for he is 
our peace." 4 If we examine the ancient histories," says 
St. Jerome, " we will find that up to the 28th year of 
Caesar Augustus there were wars in the whole world, but 
at the birth of the Lord all wars ceased." 5 

Let the proud of the earth learn from the birth of their 
Saviour a lesson of humility. Who would want to have it 
known that they were born in a cabin, but who would 
like his neighbors to hear that he was born in a stable ? 
He was not born in the imperial city, Rome. He was not 
born in the capital of Palestine, Jerusalem. He did not 
first see light in the city of Galilee, Nazareth. He was 
not born in the home of his fathers, Bethlehem. He was 
born in a stable, to destroy in the mind of man the pride 
of his birth and to teach us a lesson of humility. 6 

Mary knew her time was soon to come. She remem- 
bered that on the 25th of March, before the angel told 
her, she would conceive and bring forth a son. 7 

She knew that her nine months were up on the 25th of 
December. She had provided cloths for her Divine Son. 
She wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a 
manger. 8 

Thus the greatest fact of history came to pass, God 
had prepared the world for four thousand years before, 
for that miraculous birth of his only begotten Son. In 
the groves of Paradise, when our first parents in fear and 
trembling heard the voice of God in condemnation of 
their sin, they learned to hope in a Redeemer, for in the 
same words was the promise given, that of the race one 
would rise and to crush the serpent's head. 9 The sacri- 
fices of the Patriarchs foretold his coming. Isaac, brought 



1 1 Cor. i., 27. 2 St. Thomas, 3 P., q. xxxv., A. viii. 3 Bossuet, ElevatioD, xvi., 
seni. elev. v. 4 Ephes. ii., 14. 5 Super Isaias, c. ii., " Non levabit gens," etc. 
6 St. Thomas, iii., q. 66, etq., 46, 10, ad. i. 7 Luke L, 31. 8 Luke ii., 7. - 9 Gen. iii. 15. 



110 BORN ON THE 25TH OF DECEMBER. 

forth in the decline of his mother's life, when she was ninety 
years of age, prepared for the bringing forth of the child 
of Bethlehem. Anna, the barren woman of the tribe of 
Ephraim, by the hand of God gave birth to Samuel, the 
leader of God's people. Elizabeth gave birth to John the 
Baptist, in her old age, and Joachim and Anna gave birth 
to Mary by the power of God. Thus all these miracles 
of the Lord were to prepare the world for the birth of 
Christ by the operation of the Holy Ghost, from a Virgin, 
who before, and in, and after his birth, always remained a 
Virgin. The calling of the three shepherds 1 to adore the 
new born babe, the Angels' singing of " Glory to God in 
the highest," are related by the Evangelist. 2 

Clement of Alexander 3 writes against those in ancient 
times who pretended that Christ was born either on the 
20th of April, or in May. St. Epiphanius' and Casianus" 
say some of the early Christians of Egypt believed that 
he was born on the 6th of January, and for that reason 
they celebrated Christmas, Circumcision and Epiphany on 
the sixth of January. But the whole tradition of the 
Church, the writings of the Fathers and all monuments of 
the early ages say he was born on the 25th of December. It 
is proved by the Homilies of St. Chrysostom, fi the writings 
of St. Gregory, of Nyasen, 7 by the works of St. Augustin, 8 
and by all the great writers of antiquity. After summing 
up all said on that subject, Baronius writes, 9 "All these 
assertions relating to the birth of our Lord, the belief of 
both the Latins and the Greeks, is, that he was born on 
the twenty -fifth of the month of December." There is 
no doubt on this question, for the Roman Senators had 
the right to examine the records of the census, taken by 
command of Csesar, and the knowledge of the birth 
of our Lord on Christmas day was carried to Constanti- 
nople, at the time when St. Chrysostom sat there upon 
his throne as archbishop, after having been changed from 
the see of Antioch. 10 

The people of the East began to celebrate Christmas 
on the 25th of December, about the beginning of the 
fourth century. Before that time they kept -the birth- 



1 V. Bede, L. de Locis Sanctis. 2 Luke ii., 14. 3 Lib. i., Stromat. 4 Haeres, 51. 
s Coll. 10. 6 Horn. m. 7 Orat. in S. Lumena. 8 L. iv., de Trin., c. i„ et Epist 119. 
9 Ap. ad Annales n. 121. 10 Benedict XIV., De Festis D. N., Jesu Christi, c. xvii., 
n. 45. 



THE BEGINNING OF THE CHRISTMAS TIME. Ill 

day of the Lord sometimes on the 6th of January, some- 
times on the 20th of April, and sometimes on the 15th 
of May, and St. Chrysostom says in a sermon preached by 
him in 386, that at Antioch for six years the people had 
followed the custom of the Eomans in keeping Christmas 
on the 25th of December. It appears that they changed 
because the knowledge of the exact time of the birth of 
the Saviour was intimated to them by the supreme 
authority of the Pope, who, in Eome, had examined the 
records of the census, or by the commands of the Emper- 
ors Theodosius and Valentine, who decreed that Christ- 
mas and Epiphany should no longer be celebrated on 
the same day. 1 The Armenians still continue to celebrate 
Christmas and Epiphany together, on the 6th of January, 
because from the most ancient times they were separated 
from the centre of authority, Rome. 

Christmas time begins on the day when our Lord was 
born, and ends on the day when Jesus was presented in 
the temple, and Mary was purified. That feast of the 
Purification of the Virgin appears to go back to the most 
ancient times, and we find no mention of when it began, 
all writers agreeing that it is the most ancient of all the 
feasts of the Blessed Virgin. Having its history given in 
the Gospel, 2 it is no more than natural that they cele- 
brate it from the earliest days of the Christian religion. 
Where the Latin rite had spread, it was held on the 2d of 
February, but some of the Christians of the East kept 
the feast at different times, till the sixth century, during 
the reign of the Emperor Justinian, when they changed to 
the day kept by the Latins. 

The Christmas time in the Latin rite is a time of hap- 
piness and of pleasure celebrated by the whole of the 
Christian world in memory of the Son of God made man. 3 
For that reason all are filled with joy and happiness. 
Among us, the children's stockings are filled by Santa 
Claus, 4 the Christmas tree bends under its load of sweets 
for the little ones, the poor, who at other times have 
scarcely enough, try and provide a feast that day, the 
rich invite their friends to their Christmas dinner, all 



1 Gueranger, Le Temps de Noel, p. 11. 2 Luke ii, 22, 23. 3 Gueranger, Le Temps 
tie Noel, v. i, p. 12. 4 The name Santa Clans is a corruption of St. Nicholas, which 
wu> celebrated by the Dutch in the times of the colonies, and from that it has been 
eha s< d to Christmas. 



112 THE MOTHEE'S PEAISES. 

salute their friends and acquaintances with " a happy 
Christmas." The trials and troubles of the past are for- 
gotten, injuries are overlooked, presents are made, and the 
members of society try to pass the holidays in social 
pleasures, even those whose fathers left the Church in 
ages past, by tradition, have still kept the customs im- 
planted so deeply by our ceremonies in the heart of the 
people of the Christian world. 

While the Church celebrates the mystery of the Incar- 
nation, she cannot forget at the same time the Maternity 
of Mary, for they are so closely united one to the other, 
that the thought of one brings with it the idea of the 
other. For that reason, during the Sundays and the feasts 
of Christmas Time, which are not of the double class, 
we mention Mary in the prayers and Offices. 1 We resume 
again her suffrages not said in Advent, and each prayer 
with the beautiful anthem composed by Herman Con- 
tract. 2 Such are the ways the Church honors the Son of 
God in the praises of his Mother during the Christmas 
time of the cycle of the years. From the most ancient 
times the people were accustomed to honor Mary. The 
French dedicated to her their great Metropolitan Churches 
of Paris, Notre Dame, 3 and of Chartre. The people of 
Rome named after her St. Mary Major, 4 while every 
church of any fame or name has one of its altars dedicated 
to the Mother of God. 

In the course of the year there are six Sundays after 
Eprphany, so that when the Christmas time of 40 days 
has its full length before the movable feasts come in, the 
Christmas season takes four, three, two, or only one week, 
depending on the time when Easter falls, which being 
on the first Sunday following the first full moon after the 
14th moon of March, varies each year. But nothing changes 
the joy and gladness of the ceremonies of the Church 
during these 40 days of Christmas time but the violet 
color of the vestments and the silence of the Angelic 
Hymn when the Christmas season extends beyond Sep- 
tuagesima Sunday. 5 When any of the Sundays after 
Epiphany cannot be celebrated after Septuagesima Sun- 



1 Dens quisalutis aeternae beutae Mariae virginitate fecunda, etc., and V. Post par- 
tnm Virgo, etc. 2 Alma Kedemptoris Mater, etc. 3 Our Lady. 4 St. Mary the 
Great. 5 The Gloria in Excelcis Deo. 



FILLED WITH MYSTERY. 113 

day, because Easter comes sooner than usual, they are 
put back to the last of the year before the following 
Advent. Although the Church celebrates the mysteries 
of the holy Childhood of our Lord during the Christmas 
season, when Easter comes towards the last of March we 
read many parts of his public life, because there is no 
other time in the year for this part of the Gospel. 

The Greeks during this holy time celebrate the Ma- 
ternity of Mary, but they have a special veneration for 
the twelve days from Christmas to Epiphany. 1 They eat 
no meat during these days, and in old times the Emperors 
of the East decreed that no work was to be done or 
courts held from Christmas till after Epiphany. 2 

No time of the year is so filled with mystery as the 
Christmas holidays, when the Church celebrates the birth 
of the Saviour of the world, born of his Father in eter- 
nity, and born of his Mother in time. The Son of Gocl, 
the wisdom of the Father, the Divine Word, the Plan of 
creation, the Creator of all the source of all light and 
grace flowing into angels and men 3 takes to himself, raises 
to the throne of the Deity that nature of man which con- 
tains all the perfections of the beings made by God. He 
raises all and defies all by uniting all to himself, and 
thus, he lifts all creatures to the throne of the God-head. 
The Mystery of the Incarnation breathes through the 
Masses and the Offices of the Church. " The Word was 
made flesh, and God became man," resounds through the 
whole of the grand Liturgy of the Latin rite during the 
holy season of Christmas. The great Fathers of the 
Church preached their finest sermons on the birth of 6ur 
Lord. 4 St. Augustine 5 and St. Isidore says, that accord- 
ing to the traditions of the early Christians, man was 
created on Friday, and on that day Christ died to 
satisfy for his sin, while he rose from the dead the 
third day after, which was Sunday, the day God said, 
" let there be light." The ancient writers say Christ- 
mas is celebrated as the years roll by on each of the 
days of the week, to sanctify each one of them, and take 
from them the curse of Heaven for the sin of Adam, 



1 They call them Dodecameron. 2 Gueranger, Le Temps de Noel, v. i, p. 14. 3 St. 
Thomas, III. P. q. 8. 1. etc. 4 St. Augustin has thirty-two sermons on Christmas which 
he calls Natalis Domini. 5 Epis. ad Jan. 



114 THE MEANING OF DAEKNESS. 

while Christ rose from the dead with the splendors of 
the sun on Sunday, and for that reason Easter is cele- 
brated only on Sunday. 

He was born in the winter of the world, when the 
nations had lost the revelations given by God to their 
father Adam, when the poets of Greece and Rome had 
poisoned the minds of the ancients by their gods and 
godesses, 1 and the daily decreasing light of the sun in 
the fall of the year before fche winter solstice, is a pic- 
ture of the light of God's revelation decreasing as the 
years of the olden times rolled by, before the birth of 
Christ. 

The great writers of the early ages of the Church 2 stand 
astonished at the thought of the Lord having been born 
during the darkest part of the year, and during the darkest 
period of the pagan world ; that God would thus make 
the natural decline of the light of the sun to be a figure 
of the decline of the light of the revelation made toman 
in the garden, and that just as the sun began to return to 
the northern hemisphere, the Son of justice would come 
to enlighten the world. "On the day when the Lord 
commenced to diminish the shades of darkness and the 
light increases, night is driven from the earth. Certainly, 
brethren, that did not come to pass by chance on the day 
when shone forth he, who is the human and the Divine. 
Nature, under that symbol reveals a secret to those whose 
eyes are penetrating, and who are able to understand the 
surroundings of the Saviour's coming." 3 "Rejoice, 
brethren, for this day is holy, not because of the visible 
sun, but because of the birth of the invisible Creator of 
the sun. The Son of God chose the day of his birth as 
he chose his Mother, but he is the Creator, at the same 
time, of the day and of the Mother. When the light 
begins to increase, that day was apt to signify the work 
of Christ, by his grace ever renewing our inner man. 
The Eternal Creator having wished to be born in time, 
it was right that his birth was in harmony with crea- 
tion." 4 

In another sermon on Christmas, the great bishop of 



i Tebault, The Church and the Gentile World. 2 St. Maxim of Turin, St. Leo, St. 
Bernard, etc. 3 Greg. Naz. Horn, in Nat. Dom. 4 St. Augustin Sermo in Natali, 
Dom. iii, 



BETHLEHEM, "THE HOUSE OF BEEAD." 115 

Hippo 1 explains to us the mysterious words of St. John 
the Baptist : " He must increase but I must decrease." 2 
He says these are prophetic words, which in the literal 
sense mean that John's mission had come to an end 
when he had shown the Messiah in the person of Christ. 
But there is a deeper meaning. The holy Baptist came 
into the world, when at the summer solstice the days 
began to grow shorter, while Christ was born when the 
days commenced to grow longer. 3 The infidels of the old 
world tried to prove that religion and science do not 
agree ; but the deeper we dive into science and religion 
the more we are struck with their agreement. We must 
confess that while we are in love with our age, while we 
have read the wonderful discoveries of our times, while 
we count as our friends the great inventors, yet we must 
confess that day by day we are obliged to admit that 
God made the world but for Christ, for the Church, and 
for the salvation of the race ; and while the mind of man 
goes on daily grasping the secrets of nature, and using 
them for the happiness of man, still the truths revealed 
by God can neither increase nor diminish, but ever be 
the same as fulfilled by the Son of God born at Beth- 
lehem. 

He was born in Bethlehem, as the prophet foretold. 
" And thou, Bethlehem Epheata, out of thee shall he 
come forth unto me that is to be the ruler in Israel." 4 
The prophets knew it, the people of Israel expected it, 
and the wise ones of Judea told Herod of it. 5 God 
chose the race of Abraham before all the nations of the 
earth, that he might prefigure the ceremonies of the 
Mass by the ceremonies of their temple. He chose the 
fairest maiden of the race of Juda for a Mother for His 
Son, he wished to be born at Bethlehem (in Hebrew, 
" The house of bread"), 6 because he was to become " the 
living bread which came down from heaven, 7 and there, 
in the city of " the house of bread," he was first seen by 
man. " Your fathers did eat manna in the desert and 
are dead," but the Saviour came to be " the bread which 
cometh down from heaven, that if any man eat of it he 



1 St. Augustin. 2 John iii, 30. 3 St. Augustin, Sermo in Natali Domini, xi. 
4 Micb. v ,2. 5 Matth ii., 5. 6 Gregorie Mag., Horn, viii., in Evang. ; El Porque de 
las Ceremonias, Trat. Cuarto, c. xiii. 7 John vi., 41. 



116 THE INCARNATION AND COMMUNION. 

may not die." 1 Thus the greatest act of God was the 
birth of his Son at Bethlehem, the mystery of the In- 
carnation. The greatest act of God now is Communion, 
the mystery of the Eucharist. One is a series of mir- 
acles by which the Lord united with his creatures, the 
other is a series of miracles by which the Lord unites 
with his Christians, and these two wonders of the works 
of God are so closely related, that when celebrating the 
solemnities of the Blessed Eucharist we say the Preface 
of Christmas. The Incarnation is the uniting of that 
soul and body of Christ to the Divinity of the Second 
Person of the Trinity, while Communion is the uniting 
of the same Christ to each one who receives him. Thus 
while we have with the Church waited and prepared 
during the weeks of Advent to receive Him, that prepara- 
tion would be useless if we let this holy time pass with- 
out going to Communion, for whoever receives him he 
has given to become the sons of God by adoption. 2 

In the cycle of the year, during the holy time of the 
Christmas holidays, the Church surrounds the manger of 
the Infant-God with the names of her most illustrious 
Saints. Like the twinkling planets circling around the 
sun, we celebrate the memory of the most celebrated 
Saints during these happy days of the birth of our Lord. 
St. Stephen who, first among the followers of the Saviour, 
gave his life in martyrdom ; 3 St. John, the beloved Apos- 
tle ; 4 the Holy Innocents, put to death by Herod ; 5 and 
St. Thomas of Canterbury, the great Saint of the Eng- 
lish race. 6 No other season of the year shows such 
noble names as those we mentioned. The Apostolic 
College gives us the names of its greatest stars : St. 
Peter, the first Pope on the throne of his supremacy at 
Pome, 7 and St. Paul in his conversion on the road to 
Damascus. 8 The army of« the millions of martyrs send 
us the names of Timothy, the companion of St. Paul ; 9 
St. Ignatius, the third after St. Peter to sit on his throne 
as Bishop of Antioch ; 10 St. Polycarp, the disciple of John 
the Evangelist and Bishop of Smyrna ; u St. Yincent and 
Anastasius, one a Spaniard, the other a Persian ; one 
put to death under Dioclesian and Maximina, the other 



i John vi.. 50. 2 John i., 12. 3 Dec. 26. 4 Dec. 27. 5 Dec. 28, 6 Dec. 29, 
7 Jan. 18. 8 Jan. 25. 9 Jan. 24. ]0 Feb. 1. 1J Jan. 26, 



SAINTS AROUND THE MANGER. 117 

by Chosroa. The line of the Popes gives us four of their 
most noble names : Sylvester, the great Pope who led 
Constantine the Emperor to become a Christian; 1 St. 
Telesphor, who kept to the Apostolic traditions and or- 
dained the seven weeks of Lent to be kept before Easter, 
and that Mass should be said at nine in the morning ; 2 
St. Hyginus, who condemned the dangerous errors of the 
Gnostics, and upheld the Divinity of Christ f St. Mar- 
cellinus, the first martyr of the last of the ten great 
persecutions of the Church. 4 The sublime school of the 
doctors of the Church gives us the names of St. Hilary, 5 
who by his writings against the Arians, and his resolute 
opposition to the Emperor, saved the Church, and St. 
Chrysostom, who, as Archbishop of Antioch and Constan- 
tinople, left us the grandest homilies of the Bible. The 
Pastors of the people have St. Francis of Sales, the great 
Bishop and Prince of Geneva. The ascetics give us St. 
Paul, the first Hermit ; 6 St. Maurus, the Patron of the 
Cloister ; St. Peter, the redeemer of captives.; 7 St. Ray- 
mond of Pennafort, the teacher of justice and the regu- 
lator of consciences. 8 The defenders of the Church have 
St. Canutus, King of the Danes, who, to help the English 
against William the Conqueror, sent his brother to fight 
for the cause of religion, but the holy king was killed at 
the altar by his brother. 9 The holy Choir of Virgins is 
represented by the sweet St. Agnes, 10 the noble Roman 
Lady, 11 and by the heroic St. Martina, 12 while the poor are 
there in the person of St. Paul, the humble lover of the 
manger. Behold what a bright galaxy of Saints circle 
around the cradle of the born God when we celebrate 
his feast. But the Church celebrates the day of the 
death of the Saints, and not of their birth, for they were 
born sinners. They came into this world with the sin of 
Adam on their souls ; while they lived they might have 
sinned, and it is not reasonable to rejoice at the birth of 
a poor exile like man when born into this world. For 
these reasons the Church celebrates the birthdays of 
our Lord and of his holy forerunner St. John the Bap- 
tist, 13 for these came into the world without sin. The 



1 Dec. 31; Brev. Roman. 2 Jan. 5; Darras, Hist, of the Church, v. i., p. 103. 
3 Jan. 11. 4 Jan. 16. 5 Jan. 14. 6 Jan 15. 7 Jan. 31. 8 Jan. 23. 9 Brev. Roman. 
Of. S. Canuti, Jan. 19. 10 Jan. 28. " Jan. 30. 12 Jan. 30. 13 S. Aug. Ser. ccxxxvii. 
n. 1. 



118 THE COLOR OF THE VESTMENTS. 

birth of both was told by angels. One was born of a 
sterile woman, the other without a father ; both had dis- 
ciples, both baptised ; both were the greatest men born 
of women. 1 We celebrate the death of the patriarchs, 
the prophets, the apostles, the martyrs and the millions 
of her Saints. The birthdays of Christ and of St. John 
the Baptist the Church holds sacred, and St. Augustine 
says he has received this doctrine from the most ancient 
traditions of the early ages, showing how the Church 
never changes in her rites and ceremonies. 2 

Guided by the hand of the Holy Spirit, the Church in 
ages past formed her rites and ceremonies to teach her 
children the truths revealed by God to man. And to tell 
the joy with which she celebrates the happy time of the 
Christmas holidays, the vestments are always white 
during the twenty days following the great feast of 
Christmas. Only on the feasts of the holy martyrs, and 
on the Octave of the Holy Innocents, the clergy are 
clothed in red in memory of their blood, while on the 
feast of the Holy Innocents we use the violet vestments, 
the color of sorrow to recall the weeping of the mothers 
of Bethlehem, for the death of their little ones. 3 The 
pure whiteness of the sacerdotal robes tells the people of 
the shining angels, of the pure Mother, of the chaste 
Joseph, and of the holy shepherds around the manger of 
the transcendent Son of God, born to be the Redeemer 
of our race. 4 

During the last twenty days of the Christmas time the 
many feasts of the Saints require that the vestments of 
the clergy are in harmony, sometimes with the roses of 
the martyrs, with the immortals which crown the heads 
of the Popes, the bishops and the priests, and with the 
lilies of the valley, the types of the virgins. If there be 
no feast of the double class on the Sundays of this time 
calling for red, or if the Septuagesima time does not re- 
quire violet, the vestments will be green, signifying by 
the white and the green that our Lord is the " flower of 
the field and the lily of the valleys." 5 As green is the 
color of hope, the green vestments tell us that the Lord 
is born to give us the hope of salvation, and after the 

1 Matth. xi., 11; see St. Augustin., Sermo cclxxxvii., de. Nat. Joan Baptst. 2 St. 
Augnstin, Sermo ccxcii., de Nat. Joan Bapt«t., vi. a Matth. ii., 18. 4 (iueranger, 
Le Tempt de Noel, p. 25. s Cant, of Cant., ii., 1. 



THE CRIB EACH CHRISTMAS. 119 

winter of the human race, the winter of the Pagans and 
of the Jews, the blooming springtime of green plants and 
of white flowers has come to us in the grace of Chris- 
tianity. 1 

Such are some of the meanings of the Christmas time, 
when God becomes so familiar with the children of 
men. But the mystery of the wonderful birth of our 
Lord asks something on our part, for he took that human 
nature of ours that we might adore him, love him and 
receive him. We must adore him, for he is God, and to 
adore anything but God is idolatry. For that reason we 
never adore the Saints, the Apostles, or the Virgin Mary. 
But as we celebrate the feast of our birth, as we renew 
the centennial of the foundation of our great nation, as 
we love to honor the names of the great and the honored 
dead, we keep the days of the great and honored ones of 
the Christian religion. That is the reason why the Feasts 
of the Saints are celebrated. We must adore only God. 
But we must not only adore him, we must also love 
him. And in all the world what is there which excites 
our love like the face and the form of a little child ? For 
that he came and took the form of a little babe, to win 
our love. Thus to renew forever the memory of that God- 
child born at Bethlehem, the people of each church lay 
the image of a little child in a manger each Christmas 
night, when the people, seeing the beautiful/ form of the 
infant, remember the Babe of Bethlehem born to them 
so long ago, of the Virgin Mother, on the first Christmas 
night, when Immanuel became man. Not only should we 
love him, but we must receive him. In mystic teachings 
Advent is called the Cleansing Life, for by the self-denial 
and the penance of that holy time, the soul is prepared 
for the coming of the Lord, while the Christmas time is 
called the Enlightening Life, for then the Lord comes to 
enlighten the souls of his people. 2 Light here is used as 
a figure of grace, and the way God sends grace into the 
heart of man is by the Sacraments ; therefore, for man to 
be enlightened he must go to the Sacraments — he must 
receive the bread of life, the Holy Eucharist, "as many 
as received him he gave them power to be made the sons 



Gueranger, Le Temps, de Noel, p. 26. a Theologia Mystica. 



120 CHRISTMAS IN ANCIENT TIMES. 

of God." 1 By the decrees of God lie was born in Beth- 
lehem, " The City of Bread," that we might receive him, 
"The Bread of Life." 2 The custom of going to Holy 
Communion has been continued in the Church since its 
very beginning. In old times it was made a solemn duty 
to approach the altar at this holy season, 3 as well as at 
Easter and at Pentecost. Such has been the ideas 
always preached to the people by the Popes, the bishops 
and the clergy.* 

Christmas Eve has come. One day more to Christmas. 
In the most ancient times the children of the Church 
fasted till the evening, to prepare themselves for the 
coming of their Lord, but now, by the motherly indul- 
gence of the Church, they are allowed to take a meal and 
a collation. 5 In the afternoon the clergy say their Office 
and end with the first Yespers of Christmas. According 
to the most venerable traditions of our holy Church this 
Eve of Christmas is a solemn day, and the great Fathers 
of the Church preached their finest sermons in honor of 
the Word became man on Christmas night. St. Gregory 
of Nazianzen, 6 of the Greek Church, St. Bernard of the 
Latin Church, 7 and St. Ephraim of the S} 7 rian Church, 
appear to exhaust their poetry and their eloquence in their 
sermons to their people, preparing them on Christmas 
Eve for the coming of their Saviour. 

Ancient Europe, that part of the globe beloved of God, 
saw the principal events take place this day. France 
came forth from the darkness of paganism at the baptism 
of Clovis, converted by St. Remus, and the fierce warrior 
became the docile christian. A hundred years rolled by, 
and St. Augustin was sent by Pope Gregory the Great to 
convert the half savage English. He brought their king 
Ethelbert into the Church on Christmas Eve. He went 
onward toward York 8 preaching the Gospel, and the 
crowds of converts asked to be baptised. He fixed the 
great day of Christmas Eve as the time for the solemn 
rite, and ten thousand men, not mentioning women and 
children, were washed in the waters of baptism. From that 
day till the time of Henry YIII. the English people were 



1 John i.,.12. 2 John vi., 48. 3 Concil. Ag. c. 15, held in 506. 4 See Leo. ser., in 
Nat. Dom., vi. Ven. Bede Com in Luke, St. Bonaventure Rhaban Maur, Ser. xi., in 
Nat. Dom., etc. 5 Gueranger, Le Temps de Noel, p. 151. 6 Ser. xxxviii. ad Theophn. 
7 Ser. vi. in Vigil. Nat. Dom. 8 An Cyclop. Augustin. 



NO FAST ON CHRISTMAS. 121 

fervent Catholics. In Borne on Christmas Day, in the year 
800, St. Leo III. placed the Imperial crown on the head 
of the great Charlemagne, and his empire from that 
time became the means of spreading the Gospel among 
the peoples of the north of Europe. The nations of the 
west of Europe, struck with wonder at the great feast of 
Christmas, began to count their years by beginning on 
that day, and it is the first day of the year in some of 
the most ancient calendars, martyrologies, in the bulls 
of Popes, in the letters of embassies, in the decrees of 
kings, and in one of the Councils of Cologne. 

When Christmas falls on Friday or Saturday, there is 
no fast from food or from meat, for a dispensation was 
given by Pope Honorius III. 1 Even before, in the ninth 
century, Pope St. Nicholas I. 2 had given a dispensation 
of the same kind for the feasts of Christmas, of St. John 
the Evangelist, of the Epiphany, of the Assumption of 
Our Lady of St. Lawrence, of St. John the Baptist, and 
of St. Peter and Paul when they fell on Friday or Satur- 
day. But these exceptions were but for those to whom 
they were sent, and not for the whole Church. Now the 
only time we can eat meat on Friday is when Christmas 
falls on that day. Even the laws of the nations of the 
Middle Ages allowed the people the freedom of not pay- 
ing their debts during the time of the week following 
Christmas, called for that reason the Kemission "Week. 



I. — Christmas Day. 

We now come to the time of the great ceremony of 
Christmas, to the sacrifice of the Mass, when our Lord 
who came into the world by the Virgin, comes again by 
the words of the priest, and upon our altars as from the 
manger he showers down his blessings on us all. At 
other times of the year the clergy can say but one Mass 
on the same day, or two when it is necessary for all the 
people to assist, and that by the permission of the 
bishop. 

The word Mass comes from an old Hebrew word 
Massah, a debt, or from the Greek Myesis, or from the 

1 In 1216. 2 Resp. ad. con. Bulgar. 



122 THE THREE MASSES OF CHRISTMAS. 

ancient word of Northern Europe, Mess or Messe, a feast, 
or from the Latin words sending away the people at the 
end "Ete Messa est." Go the' Dismissal is at hand. The 
latter appears to be the origin of the word. Christmas, 
comes from Christ's Mass, shortened into Christmas, or 
from Christ's Feast, feast being Mass, 1 from that comes 
also Michaelmas Day, Candlemas Day, and other Eng- 
lish names of the feasts of the Church during the year. 

Such is the greatness of the mystery of this day, that 
the clergy say three Masses ; these three Masses are to 
honor the three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity. The 
first is- to give glory to the Eather for sending his Son to 
be born into the world, the second is to glorify the Holy 
Ghost because he formed the body and soul of our Lord 
in the breast of the Virgin, while the third is to praise 
the Son for becoming man. 2 

Pope Telesphorus 3 ordered these three Masses to be said 
to show that by the birth of Christ that three classes of 
Saints were, save those of the patriarchs, guided by the 
law of nature, those of the Israelites led by the law of 
Moses, and those of the Church directed by her laws. 4 
The first Mass is said in the middle of the night, to tell 
of the darkness on the mind of man when he fell by the 
sin in the garden ; the second is said at the dawn of day, 
to sjhow the light of revelation daAvning by the prophecies 
of the Old Testament, and the third Mass is offered up 
in the brightness of the day to teach us of the time 
when Christ illuminated the world by his heavenly 
Gospel. 5 The first Mass is offered up in memory of his 
birth as a man, and for that reason we read the Gospel 
which tells us of the edict of Augustus, that all the in- 
habitants of the Roman Empire should be numbered, 6 
proving to us that he was born of the family of David. 
The second Mass is said in remembrance of his birth in 
the hearts of his followers, 7 and for that reason we read 
the Gospel giving the history of the calling the pastors 
to adore him. 8 The third Mass commemorates his eternal 
birth from the bosom of his Father 9 before all ages, and 



1 See O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, etc., p. 1. 2 An. Litnrg. du Predicat. par M. 
L'Abb. J. p. 24. 3 127 -to 142; Durandus Rationale Div. 1. n. 17; El Porque de 
las Ceremonias, Trat. Cuarto. c, xiii. 4 Durand., Rationale Div., L. vi. c. xiii. 
n. 17. 5 El Porque de las Ceremonias, Trat, Cuarto., c. xiii. 6 Lu'-e ii. 7 O'Brien, 
Hist, of the Mass, p. 169. 8 Luke ii. 9 Fabri con in Fest. Nat. Christi, con. iii. 



THE GENEALOGY OF CHRIST. 123 

for that reason its Gospel tells of the time when the word 
was, " In the beginning was the word, and the word was 
with God and the word was God." 1 

The first Mass celabrates his birth as a man, for as a 
man he was born that night ; as a man we love to call 
him, as we cannot understand him as God. He was born 
of Mary, but the Gospels give the parentage of Joseph, 
and not of Mary, 2 for the Evangelists wrote for the 
early Christians, among whom were many Jews, and 
the custom of the Jews was never to give the ancestors 
of women. The writers of the Gospels being Jews, 
wanting to convert their brethren, followed their customs, 
and give the genealogy of Joseph, who, according to the 
law of Moses, married Mary, his cousin. The parentage 
then of Joseph is the same as that of Mary. The one 
who gives us the account of the three births of our Lord 
are St. Luke and St. John ; for " in the mouth of two or 
three witnesses every word shall stand." 3 The first Mass 
is said at midnight, for tradition tells us it was the hour 
of his birth, the second is said at the twilight hour, for 
then the shepherds came to adore him, while the third is 
said in the day that its brightness may figure the glories 
of the Godhead. 

The three Masses of Christmas are found in the Sac- 
ramentaries of Popes Gelasius and Gregory, and the cus- 
tom of saying these three Masses were introduced into 
France at the time when the Catholic religion began to 
flourish under the reign of Charlemagne. 1 

At the second Mass a remembrance is made of Anas- 
tasia, a Roman lady, who, converted on Christmas day, 
excited the wrath of Publius, her husband, because of her 
kindness to the poor and the imprisoned Christians. At last 
she was burned alive under the reign of Dioclesian. The 
church dedicated to her name was built on the ruins of 
her house, and that is where the second Mass of Christ- 
mas is said in Rome. On the same day a virgin, Eugenia, 
suffered martyrdom in the persecution of Gallienus, 5 nev- 
ertheless the widow Anastasia was preferred before her, 
to show that although virginity is a higher state than the 



i John i. ; An. Lit. du Pred. par. M. L'Abbe, J. p. 24. 2 Math. i. 3 Deut. xix. 15 
4 L'An. Lit, par L Ab. J. p. 25. 5 Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus, born 233, 
died 263. 



124 CHKISTMAS DAY IN 308, 

married life, yet the married are holy and are blessed in 
their children as Mary was at Bethlehem. 1 

The Preface of Christmas is said on the day of the 
feast, at the three Masses, and on all the feasts of this 
time, except on the Octave of St. John the Evangelist, 
also on all feasts of the Blessed Sacrament, because the 
mystery of the Encharist is so like that of the Incarna- 
tion. During the three Masses of to-day we pray that he 
who is born the Saviour of the world as he is the author 
of our divine birth, he may be also the giver of our ever- 
lasting birth in Heaven. 

Such are some ideas taken from the great writers and 
Fathers of the Church relating to the holy day of Christ- 
mas, but we cannot close without giving the history of 
Christmas Day in 303. Dioclesian had published a decree 
throughout the Boman Empire, which brought a most 
frightful persecution on the Church. The edict was 
nailed up in Nicomedia, where the Emperor then lived. 
It was quickly torn down by a Christian, who paid for his 
courage with his life. The faithful on every side pre- 
pared themselves for death for the love of Christ and ot his 
Church. Christmas Day came and they gathered in their 
churches. Thousands crowded the great cathedral of Nico- 
media for the Christmas Mass, for they thought that, 
perhaps, it would be their last Christmas on earth. Dio- 
clesian heard of the meeting and sent his soldiers to 
surround the church, with orders to fire the building at 
the four corners. The people, devoutly hearing Mass, 
suddenly were startled by the sound of the trumpet and 
by the voice of a crier telling them, that those who 
wished could save themselves by coming out and offering 
sacrifices to the image of Jupiter, standing before the door 
of the church, otherwise they would be roasted alive. In 
the name of the people one cried out : "We are all Chris- 
tians ; we honor Christ as the only God and the only King ; 
we are ready to offer our lives as a sacrifice this day." At 
that reply the church was set on fire, and the flames rose 
heavenward like a holocaust of burning flesh to the Son 
of God, the 303d Christmas after he was born, to found 
the Catholic Church, which alone gives such examples of 
heroism. 

1 See St. Augustin in Natal. Dom. ix. 



BEGINNING THE YEAR. 125 

II.— New Year's Day. 

Among all civilized nations New Year's Day begins the 
year. Few know how much they are indebted to Pope 
Gregory XIII. for fixing the calendar so as to knoAV the date 
of events. 1 In ancient times there was no fixed era from 
which to date the years. Some people counted from their 
birth ; monarchs from their coronation ; the Romans, from 
the foundation of Rome ; the Greeks, from their Olympic 
games; the Babylonians, from the reign of Nabonassar; 
the Mohammedans, from the flight of Mohammed ; the 
Persians, from the beginning of the reign of Yezdegird; and 
the Armenians from the Council of Tiben. 2 The Hindoos 
have three eras to count from, the Chinese date from the 
beginning of the reign of their Emperors, the Jews count 
from the creation ; the Russians, in Church matters, using 
the Septuagint version of the Bible, dated from the crea- 
tion, 3 but in civil affairs they date from the birth of Christ, 4 
like the other civilized nations of the world. We can 
understand from these different ways of counting time, 
the difficulty of fixing the dates of ancient times and the 
wisdom of the Church in adapting the method of counting 
from the birth of Christ. 

The Romans dedicated the first of January to the god 
Janus, offering sacrifice to him on twelve altars, and they 
took the events of that day as signs of the coming year! 
They met each other with kindly greetings and sent pres- 
ents to their friends. From that comes our " Happy New 
Year," and the custom of sending presents to our friends. 
From the time of the Apostles the Church celebrated 
New Year's Day, 5 in memory of our Lord's cir- 
cumcision, eight days after his birth, as given in the 
Gospel. 6 They condemned the idolatrous rites of the 
pagans on that day, for not only the Romans, but the 
Druids and the jSaxons sent gifts and carried out their 
superstitious ceremonies. 7 The presents of the people 
and of the nobles became sources of revenue to the kings 
in ancient times and to the aristocracy in feudal days. 
In New York and many cities of this country, gentlemen 
make social calls on New Year's, a custom coming from 

1 Am.Cyclo. A. Chron. 2 Held in 552. 3 5508 years B. C. 4 Last year they changed 
to the Georgian style. 5 Concil. Turon, c. xvii., in an. 567, El Porque, Trat. Cuarto c 
XK. 6 Luke ii. 21, 7 SeeTabri Condones, Dona. Quinq., con. iv. n- iii. 



CIRCUMCISION. 127 

the Dutch settlers of this state. The creation would be 
the natural time to date from, but with the exception of 
the Hebrews, all other nations go back till they are lost 
in fable. In the sacred writings of the Hebrews there 
are two periods, one of the Jews, stating that the creation 
took place 4,004 years before Christ, the other of the 
Septuagint, putting his birth 5,508 from the creation. 
The Church knowing that dates and exact times have 
nothing to do with salvation and faith, and wishing to 
honor the two great Versions of the Bible, uses the Sep- 
tuagint manner of counting the years from creation in the 
martyrology and the Hebrew in all other computations. 

When God called Abraham from the land of the Chal- 
deans 1 and from his father's home, and when he promised 
to make him the father of many peoples, he commanded 
him to circumcise himself and all his house. 2 Every baby 
boy was to undergo that operation the eighth day after 
his birth. It was the way the children of Abraham were 
to be known from the gentiles. 3 Under the law of Moses 
we see that the same command was given. 4 From the 
Hebrews the Egyptians learned to circumcise their chil- 
dren, for we find by the oldest histories that they prac- 
ticed that rite. 5 The Jews, from whom Christ was to be 
born, descended from Abraham, to him was promised that 
from him would descend the Redeemer. As many ages 
elapsed from the time of Abraham to that of Christ, it 
w T as necessary to have some sign by which to know the 
children of Abraham, so as to be sure he was the promised 
Christ. That sign was circumcision. 

Christ was circumcised to show that he was of the race 
of Abraham ; 6 to prove that he took human flesh against 
the Manitchians, who said his body was of thin air; 
against the Apollinarians, who taught that his body was 
the same as his Divinity ; against the Valentians, who 
thought his body came from Heaven, and to give the Jews 
no reason for not receiving him as one of their race. He 
was circumcised to give us an example in being obedient 
to the law of Moses, 7 that coming in the likeness of sinful 
flesh he did not reject what purified the flesh, as the 

1 S. Aug. vol. 309, 310. 2 Gen. xvti. 3 Benedict xiv. de Fest., D. N. J. C. L. I., C. 
I. n. 1, 2, 3. 4 Levit xii. 3, Exod. xii. 44. 5 Diod. Sicul. Bib. 1 i., Cap. 17; Herodotus. 
1. ii. Cap. 10. Jerem. iv. 8, Natalis Alexander, Hist., Vet. Test. T. I. d. 6, etc. 6 El 
Porque de las Ceremonias, Trat Cuarto, c. xv, 7 Calmet. sup. Lucam, 1. ii. n. 41, 



128 HISTORY OF NEW YEAR'S DAY. 

Apostle says : " God sent his Son, made of a woman, made 
under the law." 1 " Thus it was meet that he take the 
mark in sin, as he was born to wipe out sin." 2 Circum- 
cision was the figure of the old man of sin in Abraham, 
the first father of the faithful being renewed 3 in the new 
man free from sin in the second Father, Christ, 4 and 
therefore it was right for him, a child of Abraham, to be 
circumcised. 5 He was circumcised in the stable, 6 for not 
in the temple, or in the synagogues, but in their houses 
were the Jews accustomed to perform that operation. 7 
He was circumcised the eighth day, 8 as the law of Moses 
required, and as the Gospel says ; " And after eight days 
were accomplished that the child should be circumcised, 
his name was called Jesus, which was called by the 
angel before he was conceived in the womb." 9 

From the beginning of the Church the early Christians 
celebrated the eighth day after the birth of our Lord, in 
the Codex of the Church called sometimes the Gelasian 
Sacramentary, because of the prayers added by that 
Pope, 10 this feast is called the Octave of Christmas, and 
thus it appears to have been known in ancient times. 11 As 
it falls on the eighth day after Christmas, it can be called 
either the feast of the Octave of Christmas or the Feast 
of the Circumcision. 12 For that reason it is named in the 
Missal " The feast of the Circumcision of our Lord and 
the Octave of his birjh," and, in some of the oldest 
Missals, there is a remembrance of the birth of Christ on 
New Year's day. 13 

The pagans used to celebrate the day 11 by sacrifices to 
the god Janus and to the goddess Strenia. The men 
dressed themselves in women's clothes and the women in 
men's garments, and during the ceremonies they spent 
their time in feasting, debauchery and badness. To warn 
the Christians St. Augustin preached a sermon against 
these pagan rites. 15 The Council of Tours condemned 
them, ,6 opening with the words, " Our fathers commanded 



1 Gal. iv. 4. 2 Bossuet xvii., Semaine Elevat. I. 3 See Fabri Condones in Test. 
Ci'cuin Dom. con. iii. 4 Concil. Tredent L. vi. c. iv 5 St. Thomas, p. iii. q. xxxvii. 
a. 1. 6 Apocryphal Gospels, Arabic Gospel of the Saviour's infancy, n. 5. 7 Benedict 
xiv. de Fest.. J). N. J. Christi. c. n. 14. * S. Aug. Serrao xv in Oct. Nat. Dom. n. 1. 
a Luke ii. 21. ] ° Benedict XIV. says Pope Leo is its author. De F. D. N. J. Christi, C. I. 
n. 17. ll Can. Pron. de Consecrat. dist. i. I2 Tvonis Carnot. in Sermone de Circum- 
cis. Dom. and Thomassinus Tract de Die. Fest. Cel. L. II., C. 8, n. 12. 13 Baronius 
Not. ad Martyr. Bom. la. Jan. 14 See S. Aug. Ser. xv. in Octav. Nat. Dom. n. 1. 
15 Sermo ccxviii. 19 Held in 567, Can 17. 



GREEK AND LATIN CUSTOMS. 129 

the Litanies to be said on the Kalends of January, the 
bells to be tolled at the eighth hour, and the Mass of the 
Circumcision of our Lord to be properly celebrated." 
As far as we are able to go back we cannot find when 
this feast was commenced to be celebrated. All histories 
prove that it came from the Apostles. Formerly they 
said two Masses on New Year's, one in remembrance of 
the circumcision, and the other in honor of the Blessed 
Virgin, 1 but after the Xlllth century the latter Mass fell 
into disuse. 2 

The Catholic Church has no prayers relating to the 
beginning of the civil year, as the ecclesiastical year 
begins on the first Sunday of Advent, but we ask the 
people to thank God for his graces showered down on us 
during the last twelve months, and we ask them to 
beseech the Lord to continue his blessings for the coming 
year. To give all an example, the Pope goes to the 
Church of Jesu, there to sing the " Thee, O God, we 
praise," to the Lord, and finishes with the Benediction 
of the Blessed Sacrament. 3 The same sentiments are 
found carried out in the ancient Gothic Church of Spain. 4 

The Greek Church celebrates the Feast of the Circum- 
cision of our Lord on the 26th of December, under the 
title of the Synaxis of the Mother of God. Thus the 
Eastern and the Western churches delight in honoring 
the Mother of our Lord. The Greeks call her " Theo- 
tocos," and the Latins ' Deipara," both meaning Mother 
of God, customs going back to the Council of Ephesus, 
when, according to the Apostolic traditions, they com- 
mended all to remember Mary in the feasts of the Christ- 
mas time. The days when her honor is celebrated are 
different in the Latin and Greek Rites, but the teaching 
of the two churches is the same. Pope Sixtus III. 
beautified the great Church of Mary Major with magnifi- 
cent mosaics, and that monument of the faith of the fifth 
century comes down to us with the inscription placed 
upon it by the saintly Pontiff, " Sixtus, bishop of the 
people of God." 5 

The Mass for New Year's is entitled " At St. Mary's 
across the Tiber," for there in that Church, the oldest 

1 El Porque de las Cerem., Trat. ca., c. xv. 2 Benedict XIV. de Pestis D. N. Jesu 
Christi C. I. n. 25 et Durandus Rationale Div. 1. v. c. xv. n. 16. 3 Gueranger, Le temps de 
Noel vol. ii. p. 464. 4 Missal Mozarabic. 5 Xiatus Episcopus Plebis dei. Les Plus 
Bel. Eglises du Monde Par Bourasse, p. 103- 



130 THE EVE OF EPIPHANY. 

and most venerable of the temples built in Rome to the 
honor of the Virgin, the New Year's Mass is said. It was 
built on the celebrated spot, where, according to the 
legend, a well of oil flowed from the ground the night 
the Lord was born, bursting forth and flowing even to 
the Tiber. The early Christians saw in it a figure of the 
Christ that is the Anointed, for that is the meaning of 
Christ in the ancient Hebrew. That Church was built in 
the third century and consecrated by Pope Calistus. 
To-day it is known by the name of the Fountain of Oil. 

The Feast of Christmas is ended. The four Octaves- 
of Christmas, of St. Stephen, of St. John, and of the 
Holy Innocents, have gone their course, and now we come 
to the Eve of the Epiphany. The word Epiphany comes 
from the Greek, and means to manifest or to show forth, 
for on the twelfth day from his birth he was known to the 
Gentiles in the person of the three Kings. 

The Eve or vigil of Epiphany is not a fasting day like 
the Eve of Christmas, when we waited for the coming of 
our Lord, because now he has come ; and to show our joy 
we wear at Mass the white vestments and not the violet 
as at the Eve of Christmas. When this Eve falls on Sun- 
day, it has with the Eve of Christmas the honor of not 
being anticipated the day before, having all the privileges 
of the Lord's day, and then the Mass will be that of the 
Sunday within the Octave of Christmas. 

The Greeks keep a fast this day in remembrance of 
their baptism, which in former times was administered on 
the Eve of Epiphany. During the night they bless 
the baptismal water with great ceremonies, and then bap- 
tise their converts. 

To-day we have a remembrance at Lauds and in the 
Mass of Pope Telesphorus, who was the eighth Pope from 
St. Peter, who was crowned in the year 127, and put to 
death in 142. 1 To honor the birth of our Lord he ordered 
three Masses- to be said on Christmas, and the "Glory 
be to God in the Highest " sung at Mass, but we do not 
know whether he only renewed these customs which 
were falling away from Apostolic traditions or instituted 
them. 



St. Ireneus says he was martyred in 138. 



-~1 



GOD MANIFESTS HIS SON. 131 

III. — The Epiphany. 

To-day we celebrate the feast of Epiphany, that is 1 
the manifestation of our Lord to the gentile nations in 
the person of the three kings of the East, who came to 
adore him. 2 

After his birth it was necessary for the salvation of 
man for Christ to manifest himself to some, but not to 
all. If he was known to all, the Jews would not have 
crucified him, for, "if they had known it, they would 
never have crucified the Lord of glory." 3 If all had 
known him they would not have had any merit for their 
faith^ which is the belief of things which appear not. 4 
Again, if they had known him as the Son of God, they 
would have doubted that he was at the same time a man. 5 
But it was in the designs of God, that his birth should be 
known to some, and by these shown to others. For that 
reason he was " made manifest, not to all the people, but 
to witnesses pre-ordained by God," 6 who by their words 
preached him to others, and thus the knowledge of his 
life and wonders came to us. Mary and Joseph only 
knew him before his birth, but that his birth might be- 
come known to all of different conditions of life, he made 
himself known to persons of every station in life. 7 "The 
shepherds were Israelites, the Magi gentiles ; these were 
near to him, those far from him, nevertheless all came to 
the corner stone." The Magi were wise men. They knew 
the course of the stars. 8 They were men of power, for they 
ruled kingdoms, while the shepherds were of the lowest 
ranks of society. Simeon and Anna were just and inno- 
cent, the Magi sinners ; Joseph and Simeon men, Mary 
and Anna women ; thus he made himself known to per- 
sons of all conditions of life. 9 He came first of all to the 
Jews, and for that reason he was made known first to the 
Jews in the person of the shepherds. He came in the 
second place to the gentiles, and for that reason he was 
manifest to the gentiles in the persons of the Magi. 10 

The Magi came from the East, for there the light be- 
gins ; they were the first to be called to the faith, for 

i S. Au2. Ser. ii. in Ep. Dom. n. 1. 2 Math. II. 3 1 Cor. ii. 8. i Heb. xi. 1. 5 St. 
Augustin Epist. ad Volusianuui, 136 Al. 101. G Acts x., 40, 41. 7 St. Augustin, ser. de 
Epiphania xxxii., et de Temp., c. i. 8 St. Anselm, Ven Bede, Rupertus in ii. Matt., St. 
Chrysostom, Horn. St. Leo Ser. ii. de Epih., etc. 9 St. Thomas, iii. P. q. xxxvi. a. iii. 
10 St. Augustin, Ser. xxx. de Temp. 



132 THE HOME OF THE MAGI. 

faith is the light of the soul. 1 "We know not from what 
part of the East they came ; some writers say from Chal- 
dea, others from Persia, while others again think that 
they came from Arabia Felix. But it is enough to 
know that they came from the land of ignorance, from 
the midst of the gentiles, where God was not known, nor 
the Messiah expected or promised. 2 But, "perhaps, the 
prophecy of Balaam had been handed down by tradition 
to the Magi, 3 or some knowledge of the birth of our Lord 
was given to the gentiles, as the Fountain of Oil bursting 
forth across the Tiber, at Rome, or as the three suns ap- 
peared in Spain, 4 or they learned it from the writings of 
Zoroaster. When the Angel came to tell the birth of our 
Lord he went not to the Scribes, or to the Pharisees, 
for they were corrupted with jealousy, but he called the 
shepherds, for they were upright and simple, keeping the 
law of Moses, and thinking of the prophecies relating to 
the coming of the Saviour. 5 

Christ was born for man's salvation, the foundation of 
which is faith in his divinity and in his humanity, he was 
then to be known in such a way that he would be be- 
lieved to be both God and man. If he had shown by 
miracles in his infancy that he was God, they would not 
believe that he was man. Therefore, he showed himself 
in his childhood, as a child born like other men, that 
they might first believe that he was man, while he re- 
served the wonders of his power till -his public life, when 
he showed that he was God. For that reason we read 
that he lived and grew, and waxed strong, gaining in 
wisdom before God and man just like other children. 6 
How wonderfully God showed his wisdom in making 
known to the world the birth of his Son ! 

The Jews were accustomed to receive truth from 
heaven by the ministry of Angels, for they "received 
the law by the disposition of angels," 7 while the gentiles, 
and especially the Chaldeans, were highly versed in the 
science of the stars. To the holy ones of the Jews, to 
Simeon and to Anna, the birth of the God-man was shown 



1 St. Chrysostom Horn. II., Op. Im. 2 Bossuet Elevat., 17 e Sem. elev. iv. 3 St. Basil 
Horn, de ham. nat. Christi; St. Christ. Horn. vi. in Math. S. S. Hieron, et Anselm 
in cap. ii. Math, et Origen, Sep. Num. Arabic Gospel of the Saviour's Nativity, n. 
7 : See Smith's Die. of the Bible, Art. Magi. 4 Eusebius in Chron. in August, 3 
years before his birth, Olymp. 184, Innocent III. Ser de Nativ. 5 St. Chrysostom, 
Sup. ii. in Lucam. 6 Luke 11, 52. 7 Acts vii. 53. 



WHAT LED THE MAGI ? 133 

by the interior illumination of the Holy Ghost. The shep- 
herds were men given to sensible things, and to them his 
birth was made known by a vision of angels, as often be- 
fore the heavenly Spirits appeared to the Jews ; while to 
the Magi, learned in the knowledge of the stars, a star 
appeared and led them to the manger of the Infant God. 1 
He was preached to the Jews, who reasoned by a reason- 
able being, that is by an Angel ; but the gentiles, who knew 
not how to use reason so as to lead them to the Lord, 
they were led by signs." 2 This manifestation of the Lord 
was not regarding his flesh and his human nature, which 
could be seen by all, but it was the showing forth of him 
to be the Son of God. No one can control a star. Of all 
the old astrologers, no one ever said that a star left its 
course and led a . man to the place of a new born babe. 
No birth but that of Christ was pointed out by a star. 3 
St. Chrysostom says that there is a tradition in the East, 
that a people on the borders of the ocean had kept a 
book written by Seth, the son of Noe, in which was the 
legend that a star would appear and tell them the time of 
the birth of God. Carefully they watched for the ap- 
pearance of that star, till at length it came. They as- 
cended a mountain when they saw it coming. When it 
came near, it had the form of a little child stretched out 
upon a cross. We give the legend as it is given, but we 
know that a star alone would not lead the Magi to the 
manger. Perhaps Angels told them of the heavenly birth, 4 
or rather, as St. Leo says, God enlightened their minds 
by his grace, 5 for a star alone, which appears only to the 
eye, could not bring them to the new born King. The 
light of the star enlightened their eyes, but the light of 
God was in their minds, and when they saw the star the 
Lord touched their hearts to come and see Jesus, who 
says, " No man can come to me except the Father, who 
hath sent me, draw him." 6 An ancient tradition says, an 
Angel appeared to them in the form of a star. 7 

The night of his birth the shepherds were called to 
adore him ; on the twelfth day the Magi offered him their 
gifts ; forty days after his birth Simeon and Anna wor- 

1 S. Aug. Sermo. XIX. de Ep. Dom. n. 1 ; St. Thomas iii. P. q. xxxvi. a. v. 2 Gres:. 
Horn, x., m Evang. 3 St. Augustin. con. Faustum, 1. ii., c. 5. 4 St. Augustin Ser. de 
Epiphania. 5 Ser. in Epiphania, 4. c 3. 6 John vi., 44. Bossuet. 7 Arabic Gospel of 
the Saviour's Infancy, n. 7. 



134 THE STAR IN THE EAST. 

shipped him in the temple, thus his coming was an- 
nounced. If the angels had not told the pastors, they 
would not be in that place ; if the kings of the East had 
not come the twelfth day, they would not see him in 
Bethlehem, for after Mary offered him in the temple the 
Holy Family departed from Jerusalem. 1 If Simeon and 
Anna had not seen him in the temple, they would never 
have the honor of taking him in their arms, for he fled 
from the face of Herod into Egypt, and for seven years 
dwelled at Heliopolis. 2 The pastors called to worship 
him signified the Apostles, called from the fold of Israel; 
the Magi called to offer him their gifts typified the gen- 
tile nations called to the faith. 3 The common tradition 
of the remote ages tells us that the star appeared two 
years before his birth, so that the kings travelling from 
their homes came to the manger on the twelfth day after 
the Nativity. For that reason the impious Herod gave or- 
ders to kill all the children from two years old and under. 4 
Others say that they came from a country to the east of 
Judea, not far away, and that the star appeared to them 
the night of his birth, so that travelling as fast as they 
could, they arrived at Bethlehem on the twelfth day. 5 Ac- 
cording to St. Chrysostom that star which appeared to 
them was not one of the stars of Heaven, because none of 
the heavenly bodies change their course from east to 
west, while the one which led the Magi moved from the 
north to the south, and, because it was seen, not only in 
the night, but led them also during the day. Again some- 
times it vanished, then suddenly appeared again ; when 
they stopped it stopped, and when they travelled it went 
before them, like the column of cloud by day and the 
pillar of fire by night, leading the Israelites towards the 
promised land. Considering all these traditions, some 
think it was the Holy Spirit, who in the form of a dove 
came down on Christ at his baptism ; thus the same Spirit 
appeared to the Magi in the form of a star. Others think 
the star was an angel, but the most probable opinion is 
that it was a star, created by God for the purpose of 



1 Luke, ii. 39. ' 2 St. Bonaventura, Vita Christi. 3 St. Thomas, p. ii., q. xxxvi., 
a. vi. 4 Math , ii., 16. ; SS. Chrysostom, Horn. ii. in Math., Augustin ; Sermo vii. 
in Epiphania, Cano de Lee Theo. 1 ii. c. 5. 5 See St. Thomas, p. iii., q. xxxvi. 
a. vi. art., 3 ; El Porque de- las Ceremonias,Trat. Cuarto, c. xvi. 6 Exod. xiiv , 21 ; 
Math, ii., 9 ; El Porque de las Ceremonias, Trat. Cuarto, c. xvi. 



THEEE EEMARKABLE EVENTS. 135 

leading the Magi to the manger. 1 The Magi then enlight- 
ened by the Holy Ghost 2 came to adore the Lord, that 
the testimony of the gentiles as well as the prophecy of 
the Jews might prove him the desired of the nations, 3 

To-day the Church celebrates three remarkable events 
in the life of our Lord, 4 the adoring of the Magi, his bap- 
tism by John the Baptist and the changing of the water 
into wine; 5 while some of the ancient writers say that on 
the sixth of January our Lord also fed the thousands of 
the people in the miracle of the loaves and fishes. 6 At 
Bethlehem the Magi found him a little child ; at his bap- 
tism the Jews found him the Son of God ; in the Jordan 
John's followers found him the true God. 7 In the Bible 
the number of the Magi is not given, but the tradition of 
the Church says that there were three, 8 and that their 
names Avere Melchior, Balthassar and Caspar, 9 three 
kings of the eastern nations. 10 Their skulls are still pre- 
served in the Cathedral of Cologne. 11 "When they came 
to the manger, "falling down, they adored him, and open- 
ing their treasures they offered him gifts, gold, frankin- 
cense and myrrh." 12 As the sons of Jacob offered their 
brother gifts when they came to the land of Egypt, 13 as 
the queen of Saba 11 offered presents to king Solomon, 
thus the wise kings brought their offerings to the Lord 
when they came to adore him. They gave him gold as a 
present to a king, for that was the custom of the eastern 
nations ; they • presented him frankincense, for that is 
offered only to God ; and they presented him with myrrh 
as to a man, knowing he was to die, for that was to be 
rolled in the bandages around his body when dead and 
laid in the tomb. 15 From this it appears that they were 
inspired by the Holy Spirit, and . before they started on 
their way, they prepared these gifts as presents to the 
Divine Infant. 16 

From the very days of the Apostles Epiphany has 17 

1 St. Thomas iii., p. q. xxxvi. a. vii., St. Leo Ser. in Epiph. i. c. i. 2 St. Thomas iii. 
p. q. xxxvii. 3 St. Leo Ser. iv. de Epiph c. ii. 4 S. Aug. Sermo. de Ep. Dom. iv. n. 
1 : et Sermo. iii. de Ep. Dom. 5 Matth. 11, Mark 1, John 11 : El Porque de las Cere- 
monias, Trat. Cuarto, c. xvi. 6 John vi. ; St Bernard Ser. iii. de Epiphan. 7 S. Ber- 
nard, Ser i. in Epiphan. 8 S. Leo Ser. xxx in Epiph. S. Caesarius Ser. 139, etc. 
9 Bolland 1st Jan. p. 8. 10 O'Brien's History of the Mass, p, 282. " O'Brien's His- 
tory of the Mass, p. 282, note : El Porque, Trat Cuarto, c. xvi. 12 Math. ii. 11. 
13 Gen. xliii , 26. 14 .3 Kings x. lG Origen, SS. Basil, Ambrose. Aueustin. Jerome, 
Hilary, B'-rn:ird and all in Math ii. 16 Same authors. J7 Saurez, Tom i., de Relig. 
1. ii. c v. n. 9 : Martine de Antiq. Rit. Eccl. dis. 14 n. 14 : El Porque de las Ceremonias 
Trat. Cuarto, c. xvi. 



136 THE FEAST OF EPIPHANY. 

been celebrated as one of the chief feasts of the Church. 
In the writings of the Greek Fathers and of the early 
ages it is called the Theophania, from the Greek, mean- 
ing God appearing to man. 1 Among the nations of the 
East it is called the Feast of the Holy Lights, because 
they baptize their converts on that day in memory of the 
baptism of our Lord, and because then they are enlight- 
ened by the faith they receive at their baptism. Like 
Christmas, Easter, Ascension and Pentecost, Epiphany is 
honored in the Canon of the Mass by having a special 
part belonging to it, and being called a most holy day. 2 

Being one of the chief feasts of the year, the Sundays 
following Epiphany are called the Sundays after Epiph- 
any. Epiphany is always celebrated on the sixth of 
January, except in France. For when after the great 
revolution the French were disposed to pay for the pro- 
perty of the Church stolen from her, in arranging the 
feasts of the year, Epiphany, which before was held on 
the 6th, even when it fell during the week, they agreed to 
put it off till the following Sunday. 3 In the Latin rite 
from the earliest times Epiphany has been celebrated on 
the 6th of January/ 

Among the Romans the 6th of January was dedicated 
to the three triumphs of the Emperor Augustus ; but when 
they had been converted to the religion of Christ, the 
celebration of this triple glory of the Emperor was 
changed to the triple triumph of Jesus Christ, the Lord 
of lords and the King of kings. For that reason, 
although the baptism of our Lord, and his miracle at 
Cana are mentioned in the Office, yet the Church cele- 
brates chiefly to-day the calling of the Gentiles figured 
by the calling of the three kings of the Gentiles. 5 His 
baptism in the Jordan is celebrated on the Octave of the 
Epiphany, and the miracle of the loaves and fishes on 
the second Sunday after Epiphany. 

In the services of the Greek Church, there is no men- 
tion of the Magi on the Epiphany, as on that day they 
celebrate the birth of the Saviour, while the Ambrosian 
and Mozarabic Missals speak in their services to-day of 
the changing of the water into wine, and of the multipli- 

1 Eusebius, SS. Greg. Naz., Augustin, Ser. 203 or 64 Isidore, etc. 2 See Pref. Mis. 
Infra Actionem. 3 Concord, granted by Pius VII. to tlie French. 4 Apostolical Con- 
stitutions, Book v. sec. iii., n. xiii, 5 Oueranger le Temp de Noel. v. ii., p. 155. 



TWO REMARKABLE EVENTS. 137 

cation of the loaves and fishes, as so many manifestations 
of the Divinity of our Lord. 

. Two remarkable events happened in the first ages of 
the Church, on the feast of Epiphany. On the 6th of 
January, 361, Julian, a Christian by outward profession, 
had advanced in the ranks of the Clergy to the Order of 
Reader, but at heart he was an apostate. He desired the 
aid of the Catholic Church to gain the throne of the 
Caesars, soon to be left vacant by the death of Constan- 
tine. He was at Vienna. He went and consulted the im- 
pious pagan priests to gain their favor. He then entered 
the church and was seen in the midst of the people pre- 
tending to adore the Saviour, to gain the good will of 
the Christians, whom he was soon to put to death 
by a frightful persecution, when he became Emperor 
of Rome. All this time his heart burned with hatred 
against the Christ and against the Church he founded, 
and from which, like the impious Voltaire, he received his 
education. Like the latter, he died saying Christ had at 
length conquered. Eleven years had passed away. In 
372 another Koman Emperor came to the church while 
the Christians were celebrating Epiphany. He was Va- 
lens, 1 a Christian by profession, and by baptism like Ju- 
lian. Both were apostates. One persecuted their mother, 
the Church, in the name of his cold pagan philosophy, the 
other, in the name of the false teachings of the Arians. 
Valens came to Cesarea, where the great St. Basil, in the 
crowded cathedral, was celebrating Epiphany. What he 
intended we know not ; perhaps to put them all to 
death. He enters the church. The people, like a sea 
of heads, are before him. The soul-inspiring hymns of 
praise, the grandeur of the ceremonies, the golden vest- 
ments of the clergy, but above all, the holiness and mag- 
netic grace of the great archbishop, St. Basil, on his 
throne, strike fear and terror into the heart of the 
emperor. His head reels, his eyesight fails, his heart 
grows faint, and he falls like a dead man. 2 God touched 
his heart. At the moment of the Offertory he came to 
the railing, and', according to the ancient custom, he gave 
his gifts to the Lord. Soon he forgot the lesson God 
taught him that day, and became a persecutor of the 



Flavins Valens, born 328, killed 378. ? St. Gregory of Naz. 



138 THE EPIPHANY BANQUET. 

Church. But in after ages a new race of emperors rose 
to rule the people of God, and Theodosius, Charlemagne, 
Alfred the Great, Lawrence of Hungary, Edward the 
Confessor, Henry II., Ferdinand of Castile, Louis IX.', 
and all the great rulers, kings and emperors of the past, 
came on the 6th of January, like the kings of the East, to 
offer their gifts unto the Lord. Even down to 1378, the 
Christian kings offered gold, frankincense and myrrh, as 
their gift to the Infant God. Not only the kings of the 
middle ages, but the people and the nobles brought these 
three offerings on the Epiphany, and we see that custom 
continued to-day in some of the dioceses of Germany, 
where the beautiful Christian customs have not been 
blotted out by the persecution of Bismarck. The form 
of blessing these gifts was found in all the Rituals before 
the time of Pope Paul V. Again, during these ages 
of faith, each family chose one of its members to be the 
king of the feast of Epiphany, in remembrance of the 
feast of Cana. They had a wedding cake, which they 
broke into three parts, one for the Infant Jesus, another for. 
the family, while the third was given to the poor, who, with 
the neighbors, gathered to the feast given in honor of the 
adoration of the Magi. Thus was celebrated the day of the 
adoration of the Magi, the day of the Baptism of our Lord, 
the day of the marriage feast at Cana during the thousand 
years 1 when the devil was bound from poisoning the souls 
of men, in the middle ages— when the Saints lived — before 
the errors of modern times began to turn the nations and 
the people back to the errors of paganism or to the infi- 
delity of the present times. 

As the Archbishops of Alexandria, from the time of the 
Council of Nice, used to compute the time of Easter and 
the movable feasts for the whole Church, the feast of the 
resurrection was announced to the people from the ambo, 
the pulpit, from which the Gospel and Epistle were read. 2 

On Epiphany, also, in former times, in all parts- of the 
world, the date of the following Easter and movable 
feasts were announced, which is seen to-day in the Pon- 
tifical ; also the date of the holding of the Diocesan Synod 
was given on Epiphany, which should be held each year, if 
practicable. 3 It is not usual now to announce those feasts, 

* Apoc. xx. 2 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 220. 3 Tontif . Roman. 



THE NAME OF GOD. 139 

because the people can find them in many almanacs and 
books of that kind. 

IV. — Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus. 

Among the Jews, it was the custom to name the child 
on the day of his circumcision, as among the Christians, 
on the day of baptism. On the 6th of January, then, 
our Lord was called Jesus, 1 but as the Church that day 
celebrates his circumcision, the fe^ist of his Holy Name 
was postponed till the second Sunday after Epiphany. 

The Christians of all ages loved the holy name of Jesus, 
which, in Hebrew, means " The Saviour." The name was 
brought from heaven by the angel, " and thou shalt call 
his name Jesus." 2 The promoter of the devotion to the 
holy name of Jesus, in the fifteenth century, was St. Ber- 
nardin, of Sienna, who, taking its first letters in the 
Greek, IHS, formed them into a monogram surrounded 
with rays of light. 3 That devotion, encouraged by St. 
John, of Capistran, spread throughout Italy and the south 
of Europe, till at length it was solemnly approved by the 
Holy See. Some time afterwards, in the beginning of 
the Pontificate of Pope Clement VII. , the Franciscans 
obtained the privilege of celebrating a feast in honor of 
the name of the Saviour of the world. 

In the Bible the name of God is often taken for his 
power ; for that reason, when Christ sent his Apostles to 
preach the Gospel, he said : " Going therefore, teach ye all 
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 4 When Sts. Peter 
and John came into the temple, they said to the man lame 
from his birth, " In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, 
arise and walk ;" 5 saying that there is no " salvation in 
any other name;" 6 while St. Paul tells us, "that in the 
name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in 
heaven, on the earth, and under the earth." 7 The whole 
of the New Testament is filled with reverence and devo- 
tion to the most holy name of Jesus, and it is found 143 
times in the Epistles of St. Paul. 

In the Old Testament the name of God was surrounded 



1 Luke ii., 21. 2 Luke i<f 31 3 El Porque de las Ceremonias, Trat. Cuarto, c. xvii, 
Matth. xxviii., 19. 5 Acts iii., 6, 6 Acts iv., 18. 7 Philip, ii., 10, 



140 MEANING OF THE NAME JESUS. 

with fear and trembling. God had not yet come to earth ; 
God had not become a man. The Saviour had not been 
called by the sweet name Jesus, by which we love to 
know him. St. Matthew, the Evangelist, of his human 
nature, had not written of him; St. Mark, the Evan- 
gelist, of the sacrifices of the law of Moses, had not yet ap- 
peared to instruct us. St. Luke, the Evangelist of the 
priesthood, St. John, the Evangelist of the Divinity, all 
speak of the most holy name of Jesus. The Holy Spirit 
says of our Lord: "Thy name is as oil poured out,'' 1 and 
St. Bernard, explaining these words says : ' ' Oil gives 
light, nourishes and heals. It feeds light, it nourishes 
the body, and it decreases pain ; it is light, food and 
medicine. See the name of the Spouse. Do you think 
there is in the whole world such a light of faith as the 
name of Jesus ? Is it not in the light of this name that 
God called us into his wonderful light, by which you are 
enlightened, and in this light you see the light ? Well, 
St. Paul says : "Eor you were heretofore darkness, but now 
light in the Lord." 2 The same Apostle was commanded 
to carry this name before kings, nations and the children 
of Israel, and he carried that name as a light, and he en- 
lightened his country, and everywhere cried out: "The 
night is past and the day is at hand. Let us, therefore, 
cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of 
light." 3 And he showed to all the candle upon the candle- 
stick, preaching in every place Jesus, and him crucified. 
How that light shone forth and enlightened the eyes of 
all looking upon it, went forth from the mouth of his Fa- 
ther, as the lightning flashing forth, he cured the wounds 
of one and illuminated the eyes of many spiritually blind. 
Did he not show forth the fire when he said : " In 
the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and walk ?" 4 
Not alone the name of Jesus is light, but it is our food. 
Are you not comforted whenever you think of it? What so 
strikes the mind of the one thinking of it? What so 
helps the tired senses, strengthens the virtues, aids good 
and honest morals, fosters chaste thoughts? Every food 
of the soul is dry if not mixed with this oil ; it is insipid, 
if not cured with this salt. If you write, I am not pleased 



1 Cant, of Cant., 1. 2 ; El Porque de las Ceremonias, Trat. iv., c. xvii, 2 Epli 
Rom. xiii. 12. 4 Acts tii., 6, 



THE P0WEK OF JESUS' NAME. 141 

if I do not there read Jesus. If you speak or talk, I am 
not pleased if I do not there hear the word Jesus. Jesus 
is honey in my mouth, music in my ears and joy in my 
heart. But it is also a remedy. Is any one of us sorrow- 
ful ? Let Jesus come into his heart and he is heard in 
his mouth. And behold, at the rising light of that name, 
the fog disappears and the sky becomes serene. Does 
any one fall into sin? Is he in despair? Does he fall 
into the snares of death ? Is it not true that if he invokes 
that name of life he will revive and live ? 1 Before Christ 
was born he was called Jesus by men, as he was called 
by the Angel before he was conceived in the womb. For 
indeed he is the Saviour of angels and of men, but of men 
only since the Incarnation. His name was called Jesus 
as he was called by the Angel. " In the mouth of two or 
three every word shall stand," 2 and what was foreshad- 
owed in the prophets, more clearly in the Gospel is 
read, " and the Word was made flesh ! " 3 

Well, then, whilst the child born for us was circum- 
cised, he was called the Saviour, because from that mo- 
ment he began our salvation, shedding for us that sacred 
blood. Nor is there any reason for Christians to ask 
why the Lord Christ was circumcised. He was cir- 
cumcised because he was born, because he was to suffer. 
None of these he did for himself, but all for the chosen 
ones. He was not born in sin, nor circumcised in sin, nor 
did he die for his own sin, but rather for our wickedness. 
What he was called the Evangelist says, " he was called 
by the Angel before he was conceived in the womb. ' He 
was called — the name was not given. For this name was 
from eternity. It belongs to him from nature that he is 
the Saviour. 4 

_ Great and wonderful is the mystery. The child was 
circumcised and called Jesus. Where is the connection 
between these two? Circumcision belonged rather to 
those to be saved than to the Saviour ; and it belonged 
to the Saviour to circumcise rather than to be circum- 
cised ; but understand, the Saviour was between God and 
man, who from the beginning of his birth raised the 
human to the highest of the Divine. He was born of a 



1 St. Bernard, Sermo 15 Sup. Cant, of Cant. 2 Deut. xix., 15. 3 John i., 14. 4 St. 
Bernard, Sermo I., de Circumcis. 



142 THE MOTHERS OP ISRAEL. 

woman, to whom the fruit of her fecundity came so as 
not to destroy the flower of her virginity. He was rolled 
in swaddling clothes, but the clothes' themselves were 
honored by the praises of the angels. He was laid in the 
manger, but the brilliant star shone down upon him from 
Heaven. This and the rite of circumcision proved the 
truth of his humanity, and his Name, which is above all 
names, showed forth the glory of his majesty. He was 
circumcised as the true son of Abraham ; he was called 
Jesus as the true Son of God. But for me this name of 
Jesus is not an empty or useless name, like those of old. 
There is not in it a shadow, but the truth of a great name. 
The name came from Heaven as the Evangelist 1 says, as 
" he was called by the angel before he was conceived in 
the womb." 2 

V. — Candlemas Day. 

The forty days of the Christmas season end on the 
feast of the Purification, or Candlemas Day, thus called 
from the custom of blessing the candles brought to the 
church by the people. 

According to the law of Moses, 3 a woman who brought 
forth a man child was to be separated from the rest, and 
remain for forty days like in a retreat, and then go to 
the tabernacle or temple, and offer a sacrifice for her 
purification. The sacrifice was a lamb to be wholly con- 
sumed with fire, and a turtle dove and a pigeon as sacri- 
fices for sin. 4 When they were too poor to offer a lamb, 
they were to bring two doves or two pigeons in its place. 5 
There was another commandment given by God chat the 
first born was to be offered to the Lord, but the parents 
could redeem the child by giving five shekels, according to 
the weight of the sanctuary. That sum is a little more 
than five dollars. Mary was not obliged to fulfil that 
law, for she conceived and brought forth her Son by the 
power of the Holy Ghost, and not by the ordinary laws 
of nature. 6 What relation was there between the brides 
of men and the spouse of the Holy Ghost, between com- 



1 Luke i. 31. 2 Luke ii., 21. 3 Levit. xii., 4 ; Exod. xiii., 12. 4 Levit. xii., 6. ° Levit. 
xii., 8. 6 Durandus, Epist. Mont. Feltri, t. ii. ; Bernard, etc. ; St. Thomas, p iii., q. 
xxxvii., A. 4 ; Benedict XIV., Ue Fest. Pnr. B. Virginis. 



EXAMPLES OF HUMILITY. 143 

mon -women and she who was a Yirgin in her conception, 
in her bringing forth and always remaining a Virgin? 1 
The most chaste of all, she brought forth the God of 
chastity. Nevertheless the Holy Spirit, who dwelt within 
her, revealed to her that she was to fulfil the law of 
Moses, and we see the august Mother of God coming with 
the common crowd, and mingling with the mothers of 
Israel. 

It was in the designs of God that his Son would be 
made known to the world slowly and by. degrees ; that he 
would spend his infant days at Bethlehem, Nazareth and 
in Egypt ; that he would grow up like other children, and 
be the supposed son of Joseph ; that a great prophet 
would prepare the Jews for his coming by preaching pen- 
ance on the banks of the Jordan. Till then the world 
knew not that it possessed its Saviour and its Lord. The 
shepherds of Bethlehem had not proclaimed what they 
saw, the Magi had not yet told of the infant — God, the 
fishermen of Galilee had not preached to the ends of the 
earth, and the Church he founded had not spread through- 
out the world ; nevertheless, " after the days of her purifi- 
cation, according to the law of Moses, were accomplished, 
they carried him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. 
As it is written in the law of the Lord, " Every male open- 
ing the womb shall be called holy to the Lord," 2 and to 
" offer a sacrifice, according as it is written in the law of 
the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons." 3 
What deep and wonderful humility moved the most holy 
Virgin to obey a law she was not obliged to follow. 4 She 
was not obliged to fulfil that law, but she willingly obeyed. 
St. Thomas says, " and therefore Christ, although not 
subject to the law, wished to be circumcised, and to be 
subject to the other duties of the law, to show us an ex- 
ample of humility, that he might approve the law, that 
he might take away from the Jews all occasion of calumny." 
For the same reasons his mother fulfilled the observances 
of the law, although she was not subject to it. 5 

Among the lowly and the poor came the lowest and the 
poorest, Jesus, carried by his Mother to the temple, be- 



1 Gueranger, Le Temps de Noel, vol. ii. p. 621. 2 Exod. xiii., 2. 3 Luke ii., 22, 23, 
24. 4 Benedict XIV., De Fest., B. M. V., c. ii., n. 3. 5 St. Thomas, p. iii, q. xxxvii., A. 
4 ; Fabn, Con. In Fest. Purif., B. M. V., Con. 1. 



144 THE INFANT IN THE TEMPLE. 

cause for us he became poor and was born in a stable. 1 
He came to the temple to show that he was obedient to 
the law of Moses. He did that to give us an example to 
be obedient to all laws which are just. Although there 
is no mention in the Gospel of the giving of the five shekels 
of silver, nevertheless we must conclude that they were 
offered, for Mary and Joseph fulfilled the whole letter of 
the law. 2 

Our Lord did not come to the temple built by Solomon, 
for that was burned by the Assyrians, when they carried 
the children of Israel into captivity ; it was the temple 
built by command of Darius on the site of the one de- 
stroyed by Nabuchodonosor, 3 when, according to the pro- 
phecy of the Lord, a stone was not left upon a stone. He 
was presented in the temple built by the Jews after their 
return from their captivity in Babylon. He was brought 
to the temple built by command of God by the prophet 
Aggeus in the second year of the reign of King Darius, 
when filled with the Holy Ghost, the prophet cried out, 
" thus saith the Lord of Hosts : Yet a little while and I 
will move the heaven and the earth, and the sea and the 
dry land. And I will move all nations, and the desired 
of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house 
with glory. . . . Great shall be the glory of this last house 
more than that of the first, saith the Lord of hosts, and 
in this place I will give peace, saith the Lord of hosts." 4 
Such was the temple as it stood beautified and restored 
by Herod the Great, when our Lord, carried in his 
Mother's arms, came to be presented in it to his Father 
on the day of the purification of his Mother. Emmanuel 
comes forth from his repose at Bethlehem. He takes 
possession of the temple wherein the bloody sacrifices 
and the grand ceremonies of the law of Moses prefigured 
his coming, his life and his death. By his coming the 
glory of that temple sat with a brighter halo on its pin- 
nacle than on the edifice raised by his forefather Solomon. 
The shadows of its grand and mystic rites were soon to 
vanish before the Son of Justice, but it was meet that for 
a little time the blood of the victims should crimson the 
horns of the altar, and that day while the priests of the 



1 St. Thomas, p. iii., q. xxxvii., a. 3. 2 Calmet. in c. ii. Luke, et xiii., Exod. Suarez 
In iii. D. ; Th. t. ii, q. 37, dis. 16, sec. 1. 3 IV. Kings xxv. 4 Aggeus ii. 7, 8, 9, 10. 



HOLY SIMEON AND ANNA. 145 

old law were preparing the victims for the sacrifices, the 
victim of the world, the Lamb of God, carried in his 
sacred veins the blood which was to wipe away the sins 
of mankind. 1 Among the crowds which pressed around 
the smoking altars, were many who waited for the coming 
of the promised Eedeemer. All had been prepared, 
foreseen by an overruling Providence. Simeon was just, 
holy, and feared the Lord. The Holy Ghost revealed to 
him that he would not die till he had seen the Saviour. 2 
Led by the Spirit of God, he came into the temple ; he 
knew his Redeemer in the child of the lowly Mary. _ He 
took the babe in his venerable hands, and the inspired 
poetic Canticle broke from his lips : 

* ' Now thou dost dismiss thy servant, Lord, 
~ According to thy word in peace, 

Because mine eyes have seen thy salvation 

Which thou hast prepared before the face of. all peoples, 

A light to the revelation of the Gentiles, 

And the glory of thy people Israel." 

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his Mother, 
" Behold this child is set for the fall and for the resurrec- 
tion of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be con- 
tradicted. And thy own soul a sword shall pierce," 3 fore- 
telling of the sorrows of the Virgin Mother when par- 
taking of the sufferings of her Son. 4 At the same time 
there was in the temple a holy woman, Anna, a prophetess 
filled with the Holy Ghost. " She was far advanced in 
years, and had lived with her husband seven years from 

her virginity Now, she at the same time coming in 

confessed to the Lord and spoke of him to all that looked 
for the redemption of Israel." 5 

Thus the Divine Infant was presented in the temple. 
Thus was he shown to all the people by these holy ones 
waiting for his coming. In the feast of the third of Feb- 
ruary, as kept by the Greeks, we find it given that Simeon 
and Anna died on the day following the presentation of 
our Lord. 6 Some of the ancient writers think Simeon 
was one of the priests of the temple, 7 while others say he 
was one of the common people. 8 The feast of the Purifi- 



1 Gueranger, Le Temps de Noel, v. ii.,p. 626. 2 Luke ii. 26. 3 Luke ii. 29 to 36. 
* Benedict XIV., De Fest, B. M. Virgi., c. ii., n. 5. 5 Luke ii. 36, 38. 6 Menol., Grae- 
corum, 3 Feb. 7 El Porque de las Ceremonias, Trat Cuario, c. viii. 8 SS. Athanasius, 
Epiphanius, Cyrilus, etc. 



146 MEANING OF THE CANDLES. 

cation of the Virgin, and the Presentation of our Lord, 
took place forty days after his birth, because in the law 
of Moses, this was the time when women were to be 
purified and to offer their first born to the Lord. 

To commemorate these, the Church instituted this 
feast in the most remote ages. 1 In the Greek and the 
Ambrosian Rites, this feast is considered among the fes- 
tivals of our Lord, 2 while in the Latin Rite it is one of 
the feasts of the Virgin, when we celebrate her purifica- 
tion. 3 We celebrate the purification of the Virgin in 
place of the presentation of our Lord this day ; for the 
Gospel says, " after the days of her purification accord- 
ing to the law of Moses were accomplished." 4 That it is 
the oldest of the feasts of the Mother of God all mon- 
uments of the early age of Christianity testify. 5 The 
mothers of families, from the preaching of the Apostles, 
used to come to the Church to receive the blessings of 
the priests, after childbirth, a custom they learned from 
the Jewish mothers and from the Virgin Mother of our 
Lord, and the ceremony is called the churching of 
women. 6 

Before Mass the people have always brought candles 
to be blessed by the priest. Then with the lighted candles 
in their hands, they marched in procession around the 
Church or through the open air in Catholic countries. A 
writer of the Xlth century gives us the meaning of that 
ceremony coming down from the Apostolic times. 7 The 
light of the candles recalls to our minds the words of the 
holy Simeon, " a light to the revelation of the gentiles." 8 
That is, Christ is " the light of the world," 9 who by the 
light of his teachings enlightens the minds of all men by 
his doctrines, which came from his Divinity. 10 The people, 
to show that they carry as it were Christ in their hands, 11 
take the blessed candles in their hands. 12 The wax of the 
candles is made from the fairest flowers of earth, and re- 
calls the body of our Lord formed by the Holy Ghost, 
from the blood of the Virgin, the fairest flower of the 

1 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. viii. ; Raban. Mauri de Inst., Cler. L. ii., c. 33. 
2 The Greeks call it the Hypante. 3 iSuarez, 1. 1. de Reli., 1. ii., c. v., n. 10 ; Gales 
Not. ad Martyr. 2 Feb. Azorius, Inst. Moral, p. ii., 1. i., c. 18. 4 Luke ii. 22. 5 Floren- 
tines N. ad Martyr, 2 Feb. 6 Benedict XIV., De Fest. B. V., Mariae, c. ii., n. 7. 
7 Yvo. Epis. Carnot. de Purifi., B. V. Sermo 11. 8 Luke ii. 32. 9 John i. 9 ; El Porque 
de las Ceremonias. c. xx., De las luces, deCira, etc. 10 Virtus Explic. Caerem. Eccl., 
t. ii., p. 17. n Fabri, Conciones in Fest. Purif., B. M. V. Con. vii. 12 El Porque de 
las Ceremonias, Trat. Cuarto. c. viii. 



Origin of this feast. 147 

human race. The wax comes from the bodies _ of the 
bees which are the virgins of the hive, and signify the 
Virgin, the Mother of our Lord. As the wax comes forth from 
the bees without injuring them, 1 thus the Lord came from 
his Mother without destroying her virginity. The wick 
of the candle tells of the soul of Christ in his virgin body, 
while the flame of the candle recalls to us the glories of 
his Divinity 2 the source of all light to men and angels, 
by this telling us of the transcendent splendors of 
the Divinity, which shone on Tabor's Mount in the mys- 
tery of the transfiguration. 3 On the 11th of February the 
pagans carried candles in honor of one of their goddesses. 
The Apostles changed that ceremony from the pagan rites 
to the honor of our Lord in his presentation in the temple, 
and in the purification of his Mother. 4 

When this feast falls on one of the Sundays of the Sep- 
tuagesima time the candles are blessed as usual, and the 
Mass of the day is said, while the Mass of the feast is 
changed to the following day, unless the next day is a 
feast of a higher class. 5 The candles must be blessed be- 
fore the Mass by the celebrant vested in purple stole and 
'cope, signifying penance and sorrow for our sins, which the 
Lord presented to-day in the temple came to take away by 
his death, while the vestments are of white at Mass to 
recall the holiness and the sanctity of the Son of God 
presented to-day in the temple, and the virginity of his 
Mother in bringing him forth. As the candle signifies 
our Lord, each one takes a candle as Simeon took the 
Saviour. All the people march in. procession, recalling 
the journey of Mary and Joseph to the temple carrying 
our Lord in their arms. 6 

All authors agree in saying that this feast was first held 
by the people of the East. Baronius 7 says it goes back to 496. 
Labbeana, 8 speaking of a great plague having broke out 
in Constantinople in the last years of Justinian the Em- 
peror, says that long before that time this feast was cele- 
brated in all the churches of the East. 9 In an old mar- 
tyrology of the Western church which the venerable Bede, 



1 El Porque, ibidem. 2 Fabri, Condones, in Fest. Praesent. B. M V. Con. vii., n. 
11. 3 Matth. xvii. 4 Joan. Gerson, t. iii., p. 474. 5 Enb. In Fest. Purif. B. M. V. 

6 Catecb. Montis., p. 314 ; Baronius Thomasinus De Die. Fest. Celebr. 1. ii., c 2, etc. 

7 Annal. 8 Concilior urn Coll., p. 1234. 9 Saxius In Dis. Apol. de Corp. SS. Gervas. 
et Protasii, n. 14. 



148 INSTITUTED BY THE APOSTLES. 

Casiodprus and Walfred say was composed by St. Jerome, 
and therefore going beyond the time of Pope Gelasus, 
the 2d of February is called " The Purification of Holy 
Mary the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ." St. Theo- 
dosius, the abbot, says the feast was celebrated at Jeru- 
salem in the fifth century, and that then it was an old 
custom. The Bollandists say it was kept in Phoenicia, 
Syria, Cyprus, and by the Copts from times going back to 
the days of the Apostles. We can then say with the 
great St. Augustin, " what the whole Church, holds, or 
was not instituted by the councils, but was always held, 
most correctly is believed to have come only from the 
Apostles. 1 We say then from deep research, that the 
feast of the 2d of February comes from the days of the 
Apostles. 

1 L. iv. de Bapt., c. 24, t. 9. 




Cathedral of Salisbury* 



Chapter Y. — The Septuagesima Season. 



KEAS0NS KELATING TO SEPTUAGESIMA TIME. 

The number of Sundays coming after Epiphany depends 
on Easter, as the day of the resurrection of our Lord regu- 
lates all the movable feasts of the year. There can 
never be more than six nor less than one Sunday falling 
between Epiphany and Septuagesima Sunday. But these 
two extremes happen so seldom, that in old times there 
was no Mass for the sixth Sunday after Epiphany, and 
when it came they said the Mass of the fifth, as may be 
seen in the Missals before the time of Pope Pius V., who 
arranged the Mass for the sixth Sunday after Epiphany. 

White is the color of the vestments these Sundays, for we 
are celebrating the feasts of our Lord. The Second Sun- 
day after Epiphany is dedicated to the memory of the 
miracle of the water changed into wine ;* the Third 
Sunday to the healing of the leper by our Lord ; 2 the 
Fourth Sunday we celebrate the miracle of the stilling of 
the tempest, when our Lord slept in the boat on the Sea 
of Galilee ; 3 the Fifth Sunday we recall the parable of the 
sower, who went forth to sow f the Sixth Sunday we re- 
member the parable of the grain of mustard seed which 
filled the whole earth. 5 

As Easter, which rules the movable feasts, seasons and 
fasts of the year, is itself ruled by the changes of the moon, 
Septuagesima Sunday cannot come sooner than the 18th 
of January, when Easter comes on the 22d of March, nor 
later than the 22d of February, when Easter falls on the 
25th of April. 

Septuagesima means in Latin the seventieth, that is the 
seventh day, Sexagesimathe sixtieth day, Quinquagesima 
the fiftieth, and Quadragesima the fortieth day before East- 
er. Septuagesima Time, then, is the seventy days of prep- 
aration for the great feast of Easter. In the most ancient 



1 John ii. 2 Matth. viii. » Matth. viii, 4 Mattb.. viii. « Mattlj. xiii. 



OEIGIN OF THE SEPTUAGESIMA SEASON. 151 

times, it was kept as a strict time of fasting and of pen- 
ance, as now we keep Lent. This was the meaning of the 
words of the Emperor Charlemagne, 1 which he learned 
from a large number of bishops and others learned in 
church matters, whom he called to his palace to teach 
him the meaning of those things. In many churches of 
antiquity the people, as well as the clergy, began Lent on 
Quinquagesima Sunday, which, in the Mosarabic Missal 
is called "The Sunday before meat is forbidden." By 
Mathew of Paris, it is called " The day of abstinence from 
flesh." Long before the twelfth century the clergy began 
the fast of Lent on Sexagesima Sunday, and for that 
reason it was called the " Beginning of the Priests' Lent." 2 
The Greeks call Septuagesima the "Sunday of the 
Prodigal Son," because they read that parable that day. 
Again, they call it the "Proclamation," because they pro- 
claim the fast of Lent that day, and the week after Sexa- 
gesima is named " No Meat," for it is the last day they 
eat meat before Easter. During the week they eat cheese, 
milk and other foods called white meats, but on Monday 
following Quinquagesima Sunday they begin their Lent, 
to which the foregoing days are but a preparation. 
Among the Greeks Lent is very severe. They use no 
cheese, eggs, milk or other white foods, but they have 
three meals each day, and keep Saturdays and Sundays in 
honor of the creation, and sometimes Thursday in honor 
of the Holy Eucharist. They begin so early their fast in 
order to complete the full forty days of Lent. In the 
reign of Charles the Bald, 3 when they reproached the 
Latins for not fasting forty days like our Lord, the reply 
was, that on account of their many feasts held during Lent 
they fasted only forty days like those of the Latin Rite. 4 
In order to have the same custom everywhere, a Council 
forbade the laity to begin Lent on Quinquagesima Sun- 
day. The Second Council of Orange made the same law 
for the people relating to both Quinquagesima and Sexa- 
gesima Sundays, while the custom of the clergy, begin- 
ning Lent on Monday after Quinquagesima, and the 
monks on Monday following Septuagesima Sundays, was 
continued. 5 Peter of Blois says: 6 "All religions begin 

1 In Lit. ad Alcuin. ' 2 Guliel. Nenbrig. 1. v. c. 10, Math. Paris, L. v. c. 10, Stat. Syn. 
Nich. Episcopi Andegavensis, etc. 3 In the year 875. 4 Ratramrms L. c. Graec. Er- 
rores, Thornassin Des Junes, II., p. c. i. 5 Vita S. Ulrick, Episc. Augsb. 6 Ser, xju, 
de Quad. 



152 HISTORY OP SEPTUAGESIMA SEASON. 

the Fast of Lent from Septuagesima, the Greeks from 
Sexagesima, ecclesiastics from Quinquagesima, the whole 
army of Christians for the term of forty days." The 
Council of Orleans 1 says, that many pious persons of the 
early days of the Church used to fast for seventy days be- 
fore Easter, and for that reason, the first Sunday when 
they began their fast, was called Septuagesima Sunday. 2 
It is said by some writers that the captivity of the Jews 
in Babylon for seventy years first gave the Christians, in 
the days of the Apostles, the idea of fasting for seventy 
days. 3 The Council of Clermont 4 commanded the clergy 
to fast from meat from Quinquagesima Sunday. The 
Council of Angers 5 commanded all priests, under pain of 
suspension, to begin their fast on Monday after Quinqua- 
gesima Sunday. The Council of Salzburg 6 ordered the 
religious orders to do the same. These were matters re- 
lating to different provinces and dioceses, and these laws 
relate to discipline, which may be changed. Fasting does 
not relate to faith. These Councils, then, made these 
laws for the people under their authority, and not for the 
whole Church. The regulations for keeping the fast of 
Lent belongs to the bishops of the dioceses into which 
the whole world is divided. In this country it is the 
custom of the bishops to have the regulations for Lent 
read in the churches, by the pastors, the first Sunday of 
Lent. That is why we see these different changes made 
in the ancient times. 

Septuagesima Time lasts three weeks. The first week is 
called Septuagesima Week, the second Sexagesima Week, 
and the third Quinquagesima Week ; names taken from 
the Sundays beginning each week. This season of the 
year was formed long after Lent. The Mozarabic Missal 
in Spain, from the times of Isidore of Seville, has eight 
or nine Sundays from Epiphany to the beginning of Lent, 
and the last of these was called the Sunday before the 
fast. The whole breathes a deep spirit of penance and 
of self-denial before the holy season of Lent, showing 
that in these early times Spain had not lost the disci- 
pline preached to her by the Apostle St. James. 

Easter Time is so holy that it requires a long time for 



1 Held in 545. 2 Goffin Devout Instruction, p. 141. 3 Goffin Ibidem, p. 142. 
* Held-in 1095 under Pope Urban II. 5 Held in 1270. 6 Held in 1281, 



MEANING OF SEPTUAGESIMA SEASON. 153 

the world to receive worthily and well its risen Redeemer. 
That time of preparation is Lent, but Lent itself is so im- 
portant that it requires a preparation for it, and that pre- 
paration is Septuagesima time. This season of the three 
weeks of the Septuagesima time does not come down to 
us from the Apostles. It first began among the Greeks in 
the early days of the Church, for they did not fast on 
Saturdays like the people of the Latin Bite during Lent, 
and to complete the full forty days of the fast of our 
Lord, they began on Septuagesima Sunday. Towards the 
end of the sixth century St. Gregory 1 says, "There are 
six weeks from the first Sunday to Easter ; that makes 
forty-two days. As we do not fast on these six Sundays, 
there are only thirty-six fasting days ; thus we dedicate 
the tenth of the year unto God." It was after the pontifi- 
cate of that great Pope that the four days beginning with 
Ash Wednesday were added to Lent, so as to make the 
Lent of forty days of fast like the forty days of our Lord's 
fasting in the desert. 2 We cannot find out the exact time 
when this season was introduced into the Liturgy. 

All the writings of the early ages, the fathers of 
the Church before the ninth century and the Grego- 
rian Sacramentary, speak of Ash Wednesday as the begin- 
ning of Lent. Amalarius, who gives with great minute- 
ness the ceremonies of the ninth century, tells us that the 
fast began on the fourth day before the first Sunday of 
Lent, while the Councils of Meaux and Soissons confirm 
the same. By this we see that the Church never went far 
from the customs established by St. Gregory the Great, 
when regulating these things so many centuries ago. In 
the Xllth century, Peter of Blois says of the customs of 
his times, " All religions begin the fast of Lent at Sep- 
tuagesima Sunday, the Greeks at Sexagesima Sunday, 
and the clergy at Quinquagesima." 

The Gallican Bite preserves many of the ways of the 
people in the middle ages ; and we see by many of the 
writers of this time that from the XVth century, the clergy 
began to put off fasting during Lent till Ash Wednesday, 
like the people. 

The Gallican Liturgy continued many of the usages and 
the customs they learned from the people of the Eastern 

1 In Horn. xvi. in Evang. 2 Gueranger, Le Temps de la Septuagesima, p. 3. 



154 OLDEN CUSTOMS. 

Church, and in the early days it was with some trouble 
that they were brought to fast on Saturday, like those 
who followed the Latin Rite. Before that time the Coun- 
cil of Orleans commanded them to begin the fast of Lent 
at Quinquagesima Sunday, and not at Sexagesima Sun- 
day, in the words of the council, " so as to be like the rest 
of the Church." That was in the YIth century. Toward 
the end of the same century, the IYth Council of Orleans 
gave the same directions, and explained the reason for 
commanding the fast on Saturday. Already the second 
Councils of Orange 1 condemned the same abuse, and told 
the people to begin the fast at Quinquagesima Sunday. 
The Latin Rite was brought into France by the Emperors 
Pepin and Charlemagne, 2 and from that time, following its 
customs, they began to fast on Saturday, and the fast of 
Lent was put off till Ash Wednesday, while the clergy 
still continued to fast from the Monday following Quin- 
quagesima Sunday. 3 From that time all the churches of 
the West began to keep the fast like the churches of 
Rome. Poland alone continued the ancient custom of 
beginning on Monday after Septuagesima Sunday, which 
they learned in the most remote times from the Greeks. 
But it was finally ended by command of Innocent IY. 4 

Following the Latin Rite the Western church fully fills 
the term of the forty days fast, according to the example 
of our Lord, by beginning Lent on Ash Wednesday. We 
fast each day except Sunday, and willingly the Church 
allows the Greeks to follow their customs of beginning 
earlier. During the Septuagesima time, from the Xlth 
century, we say no more the " Alleluia," 5 or the "Glory 
be to God in the highest." 6 The rule of St. Benedict was 
not the same regarding these hymns of gladness till Al- 
exander II., in the middle of the IXth century, commanded 
them not to be said at the Masses of this season. But he 
only renewed the old custom sanctioned before by Pope 
Leo IX. 7 in the beginning of the IXth century. Thus, 
this important time, this part of the cycle of the ecclesi- 
astical year, this Septuagesima time of the Latin Rite,was 
at length established throughout the world more than a 



1 In 511 and 541. 2 In viiith century. 3 Gueranger, Le Temps de la Septuagesima, p. 
6. 4 In 1218. 5 Fabri, Con. Doni. Quing., Con. iv. 6 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 
207. 7 Cap. Hi. Duo De Con., Dist. I, 



JERUSALEM AND BABYLON. 155 

thousand years ago, but it became common among the 
nations of Europe only after many trials and attempts on 
the part of the authorities of the Church. We say that 
Septuagesima Sunday is the seventieth day before Easter, 
but really it is the sixty-third. There is a mystery here, 
for this time of the year is filled with mysteries ; not only 
the three weeks of the Septuagesima Season are myste- 
ries, but the whole time of Septuagesima and of Lent to 
Easter Sunday is rilled with the deepest mysticism. 1 

The number seven is found in numberless places in the 
Bible, and here the holy Church invites us to stop and 
ponder on this number, and on these seasons of the year. 
Let us go back to the olden times of the fathers of the 
Church. St. Augustine 2 says "there are two seasons, one 
the time of our trials and of our temptation during this 
life, the other the time of our happiness and of our 
glories in the other life. We celebrate these times, the 
first before Easter, the second after Easter. The season 
before Easter represents the trials of the present life, the 
season after Easter signifies the happiness we will have 
in heaven. Such is the reason we pass the first of these 
seasons in fasting and in prayer, while the second season 
is consecrated to canticles of joy, and then fasting is not 
allowed." 

The Church, the guardian and the interpreter of the 
Holy Bible, tells us that there are two places relating to 
the two seasons spoken of by St. Augustine. 3 They are 
Babylon and Jerusalem. Babylon is the symbol of this 
world of sin and of temptation, in the midst of which the 
Christian must pass his time of trial ; 4 Jerusalem is the 
heavenly country where the good Christian rests after his 
trials and his labors of this life. 5 Of these two cities, the 
one worldly, the other heavenly, St. Augustine writes in 
his immortal work, " The City of God." The people of 
Israel, whose history in the Bible is but a grand figure 
of the history of the human race, were exiled from Jeru- 
salem and were held as captives in Babylon. 6 Their 
captivity in Babylon lasted for sixty-six years, and ac- 
cording to the great writers on the Liturgy of the Church, 7 



^ueranger, Le Temps de la Septuagesima, p. 8. 2 Enar. in Psalm cxlviii, 3 Vol. 
ix., 194. i S. Aug. vol. 524. 5 S. Aug. Enar. in Psal. lxiv., n. 2. 6 IV. Kings xxv. 
Jerem. Lament. 7 Alcuin Amalaire Yves of Chartres, etc. 



156 THE MYSTIC NUMBER SEYEN. 

the seventy days of fasting and of prayer, from Septua- 
gesima Sunday to Easter, recall the captivity of the Jews 
in Babylon. 1 

Seven is a mystic number. 2 In six days God made the 
world and he rested on the seventh day. 3 The most 
ancient traditions of Christianity tell ns, that seven times 
ten is the age of the world, and that the race of man 
upon the earth is divided into seven great epochs. The 
first dated from the creation of Adam to the Flood, the 
second from Noah to the calling of Abraham, the third 
from Abraham to Moses, the fourth from Moses to David, 
the fifth from David to the captivity in Babylon, the sixth 
from the captivity to the coming of the Saviour, and the 
seventh from the time of our Lord to the end of the 
world. Thus the age of man on the earth is measured 
by these great epochs. During these different times 
the Lord prepared the race to receive their Redeemer, 
and to come into the Church he established for their 
salvation. In the first epoch, from Adam to Abraham, 
all justice, all goodness, all godliness, which look down 
from heaven and was planted in the heart of man, was 
driven out by sin. In the second, from Abraham to 
Moses, God called the people of Israel and made of them 
his chosen race, to receive the prophecies relating to his 
Son. In the third, from Moses to David, God com- 
manded the tabernacle to be made, the Rites and 
Services of the Jewish law to be carried out, to prefigure 
the Services of our Church. In the fourth, from David 
to the Captivity in Babylon, the nation of the Jews were 
ruled by kings, the temple of Solomon stood grand and 
gorgeous, and the world saw the greatest glories of the 
people of God. In the sixth, from the captivity to the 
days of ■ our Lord, the Jewish people were the prey of 
conquering nations; the Maccabees alone could restore 
in part their departed splendors. In the seventh, from 
Christ to the end of the world, the Church, founded and 
established by our Lord, shines out before the nations 
called to the faith. Its glories are far greater than those 
of the tabernacle of Moses. The cathedrals of Christen- 
dom exceed in splendor Solomon's temple. The cere- 

i See S. Aug., vol. xii., 91. 2 See S. Aug. Quest. Evang., Q. vi. 3 See S. Aug., vol, 
xxvii., 442. 



THE SEVEN GREAT EPOCHS. 157 

monies in our sanctuaries are more sublime than the 
most gifted imagination of the Jewish priests could 
fancy. 

Deeper still we find the number seven. When we dig 
deep into the earth, when we study the remains of the 
ancient world, when we seek the foot-prints of the ages 
which have gone before the time of man's coming on 
this earth, we find in the crust of the earth seven great 
epochs. The first is found in the solid granite forming 
the crust. of the earth, in the crystallized rocks of the 
mighty mountains as they rear their heads amid the re- 
gions of everlasting storms. The second epoch is found 
in the sandstones and the limestone rocks found lying 
on the everlasting granite, called the lower Silurian Era. 
The third epoch is found in the trap rocks and the salt 
formation, with their remains of shells and forms of the 
lowest life, called the Upper Silurian Era. The fourth 
epoch is found in the red sandstones of various kinds, 
filled with the remains of fishes peopling the waters of 
the world before the creation of man. The fifth epoch is 
found in the coal measures, where, by the hand of a guid- 
ing Providence, were stored up the countless tons of black 
diamonds to work our arts and warm our homes. The 
sixth epoch is found in the chalk rocks and the formations 
showing the prints and the remains of the reptiles of 
gigantic forms, which walked the earth or sported in the 
waters of those early days. The sixth epoch is found 
in the rocks and in the stones in which are found the 
remains of the gigantic animals of the kind whose race is 
run, which approached in form and habits near to man. 
The seventh epoch is found in the sands, the gravels and 
the remains left by the flood in the days of man's appear- 
ance on our earth. 1 

The wonders of the spectroscope show the seven pri- 
mary colors into which all shades and colors are divided, 
and the musical scale is composed of seven principal 
notes. 

Thus the number seven is deeply planted in the works 
of the Creator of the universe. Thus for seven weeks we 
bow our heads in prayer and fasting before the coming of 



1 Molloy, Geology and Revelation ; Lyell, Elements of Geology ; Figuer, The World 
before the Deluge, etc. 



158 EXILES IN BABYLON. 

the glorious day of Easter, and in joy and praise we raise 
our heads for seven weeks during the glorious Paschal 
time following Easter. The seven weeks of sadness for 
our sins before the passion of our Lord, are followed by 
the seven weeks of happiness following his resurrection. 
Thus after having fasted and prayed like the Saviour in 
the desert, we rejoice with him as we rise from the sack- 
cloth and ashes of Lent. We rise with our souls filled 
with the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit imprinted in our 
souls. This is what the mystic writers on the ceremo- 
nies of the Church tell us. They say that the seven weeks 
before Easter, and the seven weeks following Easter, are 
according to the mystic number seven, revealed to man 
from heaven. 1 

The seven weeks from Septuagesima to Easter yearly 
come and go, while the years of our lives, like the waters 
of the rivers, flow onward to be lost in the vastness of the 
ocean; thus our years pass rapidly on toward the bound- 
less ocean of eternity. The Church, our mother^ tells us 
each year to stop and to think of the Babylon of this 
world in which we live as strangers, exiled from our home. 
She tells us to hang our harps on the willows growing on 
the banks of the Euphrates, 2 like the Jews of old held 
captives in Babylon, and to prepare for our call to our 
heavenly Jerusalem above, 3 which is our home beyond 
the skies, and whose glories we celebrate during the joy- 
ful time which follows Easter. She wishes us to sing 
the canticles of joy in her services, and that while we 
live here, far from our home in heaven, yet to keep our 
thoughts on God while in this world, lest attached to 
earthly things we may be exiled for ever from everlasting 
bliss with him, for our unfaithfulness while here below, 
for,*' How shall we sing the song of the Lord in a strange 
land?" 4 Following thus the inspired Book, the songs 
and hymns of gladness are hushed in the Church Services 
during this time of penance, signifying our exile here be- 
low. At other times of the year the heavenly Alleluias 
are often repeated, now they are heard no more, 5 for ex- 
iles in the Babylon of this world of sin, we are travelling 



1 Gueranger, Le la Septuagesima, p. 10. 2 Psal. cxxxvi. 1, 2. 3 Psal. cxxvi. 4 Psal. 
cxxxvi. 4. 5 Council of Toledo, held in 633 ; St. Ligueri, De Caerem, Mis. c. vi, n. 1, 



SIGNS OF SOEKOW. 159 

onward toward the Jerusalem which is above, for " we are 
travellers far from the Lord." 1 

The angelical hymn, " Glory be to God in the highest," 
is sung no more. 2 Each Sunday of. the year its glorious 
tones are heard at the High Masses in our churches. 
Its joyous strains are heard no more in the Septuagesima 
Season, for this is the time of sorrow and of penance for 
our sins. We sing it only when we celebrate the feast 
of some saint, to show our joy, when we remember the 
heroic victory gained by that servant of God over the 
world, the flesh and the devil. The grand Canticle of St. 
Ambrose and of St. Augustine, the " Thee, O God, we 
praise," is not said at Matins 3 except on the feasts of the 
Saints. The Masses end now no more with the custo- 
mary " Go, the Dismissal is at hand," but in its place the 
celebrant or the deacon or a High Mass says, "Let us 
bless the Lord," for in olden times the people remained 
in the church, while the clergy, after having taken off 
their sacred vestments, entered the sanctuary and read 
the long prayers and Litanies for the people. 

At the Masses, in the place of the Alleluia, before we 
came to the words of our Lord himself in the Gospel, we 
read the Tract ; 4 from the long, slow way it is sung. 5 
That our eyes may see, and that our minds may remem- 
ber the sack-cloth and the ashes of the prophets, and the 
great men doing penance in the Old Testament during 
this holy time of prayer and of sorrow for sin, except when 
celebrating a feast of a saint, the color of the vestments 
are violet, signifying grief, prayer and sorrow for our 
sins. Till Ash Wednesday, in the cathedrals and chief 
churches, the deacon and subdeacon wear their dalmatics 
and tunics, but when Lent begins they lay them by, or 
fold them up before the remains of ancient customs. 
Thus, the Church, inspired by the Holy Ghost, teaches 
her members by these signs, symbols and ceremonies, to 
prepare for the austerity of the Lenten Season by sup- 
pressing all pomp and all grandeur which are carried out 
during the other seasons of the year. 

The joyful forty days of the Christmas season have 
passed. With happiness have we celebrated the birth of 

1 The Angelic Hymn " Glory be to God in the highest." 2 By order of Popes 
Alexander II. and Leo VII. 3 By order of Popes Alexander II. and Leo VII. 4 Trac- 
tatus. 3 Amalarius, L, iii., c. 13 ; Card. Bona, L. ii., c. 7. 



160 SOMBRE SYMBOLS OF SORROW. 

God on earth. Now the Church enters the sad and 
solemn time when we prepare for the mysteries of the 
suffering and the dying Saviour. All around us in the 
Church are the sombre signs of penance. We are enter- 
ing in amid the three weeks of our baptism of penance, 
that we may well and worthily celebrate the Lord's 
baptism of blood in his sufferings for us on Calvary's 
cross. We are leaving Bethlehem and going to Calvary. 
We are leaving the infant God in his mother 2 s arms, and 
following his steps to see him fasting in the desert. We 
are leaving him in the manger, and looking for him in 
Gethsemane. The Illuminating Life of the Christmas 
time has passed, and the Preparing Life of the Septuagesima 
time has come. We have seen him in his sweetness as a 
child ; we are going to see him in his weakness as a man, 
fasting in the desert. But we must pray God for his 
light, in order to see his Son as each year the Church 
shows him to us. We must ask for grace to look first 
into ourselves, and see the sins which dim the brightness 
of our souls and keep us from seeing the truths of religion. 
We must ask the light of God to clearly understand how 
the human race had fallen when our parents sinned by 
eating in the garden, and to realize the deep wickedness 
of our sins and the deeper mercy of God in becoming 
man to save us from being lost forever. 

The Septuagesima Season, then, is the time of the year 
for the deepest thought. In the words of a great 
writer of the eleventh century, 1 the Apostle says, "We 
know that every creature groaneth and travaileth in pain, 
even till now ; and not only it, but ourselves, also, who 
have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves 
groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of 
the sons of God, the redemption of our body." 2 That 
creature which groans is the soul looking at the corrup- 
tion of sin which weeps to be still subject to the vanities 
of this world in this exile of tears. It is the cry of the 
Boyal Prophet, " Woe is me that my sojourning is pro- 
longed." 3 Thus holy David desired the end of his 
exile in this vale of tears. The Apostle who was wrapped 
up to the third heaven says, "I am straightened between 
two, having a desire to be dissolved and to be with 

i Yves of Chartres. 2 Rom. viii. 22, 23. 3 Ps, cxix. 5, 



THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY. 161 

Christ." St. Paul wishes to be taken from this world of 
sorrow and to be with Christ. We must then pray during 
these days more than at any other time, giving ourselves 
up to sighs and to tears, so as to merit by the bitterness 
of our repentance, to return to the innocence we lost in 
our first parents. Let us weep then on the way, so as 
to rejoice at its end. Let us pass along the arena of this 
life so as to merit the awards awaiting us at its end. 
Let us not be like foolish travellers, who, forgetting their 
country, get attached to their place of exile and remain 
loitering on the way to their home. Let us not be like 
the senseless people who look not for the medicine 
which will cure their deadly sickness. Let us run to the 
healer of our diseases, saying to him, " Have mercy on 
me, O Lord, for I am weak ; heal me, O Lord, for my 
bones are troubled." 1 Then our Physician will forgive 
us our sins. He will cure our sickness. He will shower 
down on us his choicest blessings. 

Such are the thoughts which the Church brings before 
her children during this holy time of Septuagesima, that 
all may be prepared to celebrate well and worthily the 
holy Season of Lent. 

I. — Septuagesima Sunday. 

The Jews lived for seventy years captives in Babylon, 
where, as a penance imposed on them by God, they 
served the Chaldean king. In the same way we serve 
this world, which in the Bible is called Babylon. Now, 
the time for us to do penance has come. The Septuagesima 
Season is the Babylonian captivity of the Christian. 
During this time of penance, we read the first five books 
of the Holy Scriptures. 2 Genesis tells us of faith and 
of hope, the foundations of true penance as practiced by 
the Patriarchs, for unless we have faith we can do 
nothing for our salvation. " Without faith it is impossi- 
ble to please God." 3 Without hope in a reward awaiting 
us in heaven, we would not practice self denial. 

The Book of Genesis tells us that " In the beginning 
God created heaven and earth," 4 that is, the unseen world 
of holy Spirits and the visible world around us. " In 

1 Ts. vi. 3. 2 Fabri, Concion., vol. i., Dom. in Sep. Con. IX. 3 Heb. xi. 6. 4 Gen. i. 1. 



162 TYPES OF CHRIST. 

the beginning," that is, in the beginning of time, before, 
all was the eternity of God. " In the beginning," that is 
by the Son of God the Father created all things. 1 As 
the Son is the Wisdom of the Father, in the Son of 
God are the plans according to which all creatures 
were made. "And the Spirit of God moved over the 
waters," 2 that is, the Holy Spirit ruled and now rules 
all things. Here we have in the beginning of the 
revelation made to man a dim foreshadow of the 
three Persons in God, 3 at last clearly told by our Lord to 
the Apostles, " Teach ye all nations, baptizing them in 
the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 
Ghost." 4 Genesis teaches us to have faith in the Incar- 
nation, suffering, death and resurrection of our Lord, who 
died as man, but not as God. Isaac was not sacrificed, 
but a ram was offered in his place, 5 typifying that Christ 
was given to be our Eedeemer, not from our own merits, 
but chosen by God, as Jacob was freely chosen, and not 
his brother. 6 This holy book of the Bible, Genesis, by 
the example of Joseph sold into Egypt, which he saved 
from famine, tells us of our Lord saving the whole world 
by being sold by his brethren for our salvation. It 
teaches us to fast from food by the example of the awful 
misery caused by our father Adam eating the forbidden 
fruit, and that we, like him, are under the curse of God 
upon the world: "Cursed is the earth in thy work; with 
labor and toil shalt thou eat thereof all the days of thy 
life." 1 To bring more vividly before our minds the mise- 
ries into which we have fallen by the sin of our first 
parents, we read first of the dignity of man, and how he 
was created in justice, in innocence, and made to the 
likeness of God. 8 

The Introit 9 is like the cry of the penitent sinner open- 
ing out his heart to his God. It is the Church groaning 
in her miseries brought on by sin. It is the human race 
in hunger, cold, sickness, sufferings and death itself, 
which fell on the whole world for the sin of Adam. But 
lest all these evils might drive men to despair, hope 
rises in the heart of man, when hearing these inspiring 
words of the Introit. Again this Mass gives us the 

1 S.Aug., S.Thomas, S. Chryst, Haydock's Bible, etc. 2 Gen. i. 2. 3 S.Aug. 
4 Math, xxviii. 19. 5 Gen. xxii. 13. 6 Kom. ix. 13. 7 Gen. iii. 17. 8 Durandus, 
Rationale Div., L. vi. c. xxy. n. 2, 3. 9 Ps. xvii. 5, 6. 



MEANING OF THE VINEYAED. 163 

words of the Church of the Patriarchs of old, weeping 
over the death of the first martyr of the Old Testament, 
the holy Abel, whose blood cried to heaven from the 
earth, 1 who prefigured St. Lawrence the first martyr of 
the New Testament, killed by his brothers the Jews. 
Thus to bring these things out before the people the 
Mass of to-day is entitled : The Station at the church of 
St. Lawrence,* outside the walls of Eome, where the Ser- 
vices of to-day are held. 2 

Lest the church militant upon the earth should be 
inclined to despair of salvation, in the midst of all these 
trials and miseries so vividly brought before them dur- 
ing this time of penance, in the Epistle of this Sunday, 
three rewards are offered to the good, 3 the prize, the 
mastery and the incorruptible crown. The Apostle, in 
order to obtain heaven, says : "I chastise my body and 
bring it into subjection, lest perhaps when I have 
preached to others I myself should become a cast-away." 4 
Thus St. Paul did penance and practiced self denial ; and 
to bring before our minds his penance on this the first 
Sunday of the great season of penance, the Church gives 
him to us as an example of penance. 

The gradual speaks of the Lord being " a helper in 
due time in tribulation." 5 

The Gospel speaks of the Kingdom of Heaven being 
like to a vineyard. 6 That vineyard of the Lord is his holy 
Church going back to the beginning of the world. The 
third, sixth, ninth, and eleventh hours are according to 
the manner of counting the hours of the day among the 
Jews. The householder is the Lord, who made the world 
and the Church. The laborers are those whom God called 
into his Church by his grace — all the just and holy ones 
from Abel to the last of all the saved. The morning hour 
of the world was from Adam to Noah, the third from Noah 
to Abraham, the sixth from Abraham to Moses, the ninth 
from Moses to the coming of our Lord, while the eleventh 
is from the time of Christ to the end of the world, 7 wherein 
he called and sent his Apostles and their successors to 
labor in his vineyard and gather in the great harvest of 
souls. Thus those called in the beginning of the world 

1 Gen. iv. 10. 2 Durandus, Eationale Div. L. vi. c. xxv. n. 4. 3 1 Cor. ix. 24 to end 
and x. 1 to 5. 4 1 Cor. ix. 27. 5 Ps. ix. 10, 11, 19, 20. 6 Math, xx, 7 Gregorias, 
Mag. Hoin. XIX. in Evang. 



164 THE WIDOWED CHURCH. 

had no cause to murmur, if those who were called at the 
last hour to the labor of the Lord received as great a re- 
ward as those who were called in the beginning of the 
world. 1 

Eenewed by the Body and the Blood of the Lord like 
saints, the members of the Church rejoice in singing to the 
Lord. 2 

The Mass ends, like all the Masses during times of fast- 
ing and of penance, by the words : " Let us bless the 
Lord." 

Thus as we closely study the prayers of the Church in 
the Mass of Septuagesima Sunday, we see the spirit of 
affliction. In the Introit fasting, in the Prayers battle, in 
the Epistle help, while in the Gradual and in the Gospel 
we are called to work for God, and then to rejoice with 
him forever in Heaven. 3 

II. — Sexagesima Sunday. 

The word Sexagesima means the sixtieth, for it 
is the sixtieth day before Easter. It was thus called 
because Lent in the Quadragesima Time, that is the forty 
days before Easter, and the first Sunday before Lent is 
the Sunday of Quinquagesima, the Sunday before that 
Sexagesima, and the one before that Septuagesima. 4 

The Sunday following Septuagesima is Sexagesima. 
On Sexagesima Sunday the Church recalls the deliver- 
ance of the Jews from their captivity in Babylon. To 
celebrate the deliverance of the Christians from the cap- 
tivity of sin by the penance of this holy time, the Church 
is represented as a widow, weeping for the absence of 
her spouse. Who is the widow but our holy Church, and 
who is the spouse but our Lord? For although the 
Lord is with the Church according to his Divinity, as he 
says, " Behold I am with you always, even to the con- 
summation of the world," 5 yet he has gone from us, gone 
up into Heaven, where he always " makes intercession 
for us," 6 and during this time of penance the Church, his 
spouse, weeps for the absence of her beloved. 7 



1 Annee Lit. de Predicateur, p. 60. a Annee Lit. du Pred., p. GO. 3 Durandu«, 
Eationale Div , L. vi. c. xxv. n. 11. 4 De Herdt. S. Liturgiae, Prax. t. iii. n. 12. 
5 Math, xxviii. 20. 6 Heb. vii. 25. 7 Durandus, Eationale Div., L. vi. c xxvi. n. 1, 



THE MEANING OF SEPTUAGESIMA. 165 

As the word Sexagesima means the sixtieth day before 
Easter, it means that we must keep the ten command- 
ments and six principal virtues, for these are the founda- 
tions of the Christian lives of those who form the Church, 
the bride of the Lamb. And to bring more clearly be- 
fore our minds that holy Church, we read to-day of Noah 
and of the ark. 1 For Noah was a figure of the human 
race lost by the deluge of sin. The ark was a figure of 
the Church, which is the only ark of salvation for the 
fallen race of Adam. 2 Thus of old, God wiped out the 
sins of the world by the baptism of the earth by the 
waters of the flood. From the three sons of Noah came 
the three great races of men which now people the earth, 
the Europeans, the Asiatics, and the Africans. 3 

All is mystery in the services of the Church during 
this week. The sins of the ancient world were wiped 
out by the destruction and the drowning of the sinners. 
A new race of men, fearing and serving God, came forth 
from the little band saved in that ark, made by command 
of the Lord. They were a figure of the few saved from 
the world in the Church by the word of the Lord in the 
Gospel. The race to-day is steeped in sin, as deeply as 
were those of the race of Adam before the flood. A few 
are saved by entering into the ark, the Church built upon 
the Apostles, built by the true Noah, our Lord himself. 
Those are saved " who are born not of blood nor of the 
will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." 4 

By the Greeks this Sunday is called the Apocreos, be- 
cause from this day they date their fast from meat till 
Easter Sunday. 

The title of" the Mass is : The Station of St. Paul, for 
the Services on this day are carried out in the great 
church of St. Paul, beyond the walls of Kome. Thus 
around the tomb of St. Paul, the Apostle of the nations, 
the Catholic Church founded by him and St. Peter, first 
Pope, calls the nations of the world to celebrate her holy 
mysteries on this Sunday of the year. 

The Introit of this Mass is one of the finest pieces of 
the Latin Rite, both as to its composition and to the 
musical tones according to which it is sung. It is the pour- 



1 Of. Mat. in Brev. 2 Gueranger, Le Temps de la Septuagesima, p. 172. 3 Guer- 
anger, Ibidem, p, 173. 4 John i. 13. 



THE PABABLE OF THE SEED. 167 

ing forth of the Christian soul, in sorrow humbled to the 
ground. It is the cry to God for the help of the Saviour 
foretold by our fathers coming to save us. 1 

The Epistle is taken from the writings of St. Paul, 2 
where the Apostle speaks of his trials, his troubles, his 
combats, his victories, his sufferings, his afflictions, and 
of the obstacles placed in his way by men and devils 
while he was spreading the faith. Such trials are before 
any one who, like St. Paul, tries to save souls. 3 

The Gospel 4 sjDeaks of the time " when a very great 
multitude was gathered together out of the cities unto 
him ; he spoke by a similitude " of the sower who went 
forth to sow. Some of the seed fell by the wayside, and 
was trodden down or eaten by the fowls of the air ; some 
fell upon a rock and withered away ; some fell" among 
thorns and was choked, while some fell on good ground 
and brought forth a hundred-fold. Our Lord himself ex- 
plains the meaning of the parable. But what we must 
carefully consider in the explanation of the Lord is that 
the seed is the word of God, the field is the world, the 
fowls of the air the devils, the thorns the false riches of 
this world. 5 What is more striking than the likeness of 
the seed sown on the ground to the word of the Lord 
sown in the hearts of the people by the clergy? But 
there is a difference between the seed sown in the ground 
and the spiritual seed of the word of God sown from the 
mouth of the preacher. For while the seed injures not the 
ground if it does not grow, the word of God never falls in 
vain, but always for good or evil to the hearers, according 
as they hear it with good or with bad dispositions. 6 

In order that the word of the Lord may take deep root 
and bear fruit in our souls, we here pray at the Offertory for 
the grace of God to aid us in our path through this life. 7 

It is in our churches before the altar that the word of 
the Lord is heard, and it is in our youth that it takes the 
deepest roots. 8 

III. — QUINQUAGESIMA SUNDAY. 

The word Quinquagesima means the fiftieth, for it is 
the fiftieth day before Easter. During the year there are 

* Annee Lit. du Pred., p. 64. 2 II. Cor. xi. 19 to xii. 10. 3 An. Lit., pp. 64, 65. 
4 Luke viii. 5 St. Gregory, the Great, Horn. 15 in Evang. 6 Annee Lit., p. 66. 
7 Annee Lit., p. 66. 8 Annee Lit., p. 67. 



168 THE JUBILEE. 

three periods of fifty days, one from to-day to Easter, an- 
other from Easter to Pentecost, and the third from Whit- 
Sunday to the Saturday after Pentecost. 1 The first is the 
time of fasting and of penance for our sins, the second is 
the time of rejoicing for the resurrection of our Lord, the 
third is the time for us to rejoice for having risen from 
our sins by fasting and by penance. 2 

The number fifty was written, deeply written in the 
customs of the people of God by the law of Moses and by 
the prophets, prefiguring our services. Among the Jews, 
each fifty years they had their year of jubilee which fell 
on the fiftieth year, when all their slaves were liberated, 3 
while, when any one wished to remain in slavery, his ears 
were pierced and he was kept a slave forever. Their 
land was not ploughed or cultivated that year, and their 
fruits and the products of their fields were gathered in 
common, to prefigure our religious orders where all their 
goods and all their property are held in common. That 
year all debts were cancelled and injuries forgiven, for it 
was their great year of jubilee and of rest from labor, a 
figure of our rest in the never ending jubilees and happi- 
ness of heaven. Thus the word jubilee comes from the 
Hebrew, and means forgiving or initiating into, for they 
were forgiven all their debts, and they were initiated into 
the figures of the everlasting jubilee of heaven. Now 
from time to time the great head of the Church grants a 
jubilee to the whole world, when by fasting, and by works 
of penance, the sins of the people are forgiven them in 
the reception of the sacraments. 

Thus Quinquagesima is the time for forgiveness, the 
time of penance and remission of sin by fasting and self- 
denial. For that reason Popes Telesphorus and Gregory 
commanded that all the clergy should begin their fast of 
fifty days from Quinquagesima Sunday to Easter. 4 They or- 
dered the fast to begin at this time so as to supply the days 
necessary to make up the forty days of Lent, for on Sun- 
day we never fast, because it is a day of rejoicing for the 
resurrection of our Lord, who delivered us from the slav- 
ery of the devil, as the Jewish slaves were liberated 
from their bondage on the fiftieth year, as on the fiftieth 



1 Concil. Aurelian, De Consecr. dist. 4 Sacerdotibus. 2 Durandus, Rationale Div., 
L, vi. c. xxvii. n. 1. 3 Levit. xxv. 4 4. Dist. Statuimus. 



ABRAHAM LEAVING CHALDEA. 169 

day the law of the paschal lamb was given, as on the 
fiftieth day from our Lord's resurrection the Holy Ghost 
was poured out upon the world. 1 By the Spirit of God 
the world and all the people go on day by day in perfec- 
tion and in virtue. Thus was foreshadowed these perfec- 
tions and these virtues of the Christian Church by the 
Psalms, which were divided into three series of fifty in 
each series. As the Israelites went up to their great 
temple, built in all the splendor of the inspired Solomon, 
they ascended by fifteen steps, 2 and sang the holy 
Psalms of David as they ascended towards the sanctuary 
of the Lord. 

To-day the Church invites us to ponder on the calling 
of Abraham, the father of the faithful, how he was com- 
manded by the Lord to leave his father's house in the land 
of Chaldea to become the father of the Israelites. 

When the waters of the flood had left the earth and the 
race had again peopled the world, evil morals had cor- 
rupted the children of Noah. All became worshippers of 
idols. The great nation of the Chaldeans and of the 
Babylonians had raised their wonderful monuments on 
the banks of the Tigris and the Euphrates. They en- 
graved their histories in cuniform characters on the stones 
and the bricks of their buildings. They left the re- 
membrance of the flood, received from the traditions of 
their fathers, on buildings now in ruins. They first 
studied the movements of the stars and became the 
fathers of astronomy. Their remains are now being 
brought to light by the labors of Layard and of Rawlinson ; 
their legends, their religions and their histories are read 
by the learned. But they were all adorers of idols. From 
them God commanded Abraham to go out and become 
the father of his people. Wonderful was his providence. 
He foresaw that from age to age man would become more 
and more corrupt, and that the revelations made to Adam 
and to the holy ones of old, little by little, would be lost, 
and he chose Abraham to preserve the faith to mankind. 
As the race began and descended from one man, Adam, 
so the new race was to descend from one man, Abraham. 
Such was the origin of the race of all the children of 
God, of all those serving the Lord to the end of the world. 3 

1 Acts ii. 2 Apocryphal Gospels ; Gosp. of the Nativ. of Mary, c. 6. 3 Guer- 
anger, Le Temps de la Septuagesima, p. 210. 



170 THE FAITH OF ABBAHAM. 

Let us imitate tlie father of the faithful. His life con- 
tains such a model of submission to the divine will, 
obedience to God's commands and self-sacrifice. " Abra- 
ham was a great man, wonderful in works. The faith in 
truth was greater than the lie of the ambitious eloquence 
which no philosophy could equal, .... That 
virtue comes first which is the foundation of the others, 
and, therefore, God first asked this faith from him, say- 
ing : " Go forth out of thy country and from thy kindred, 
and out of thy father's house, and come into the land 
which I will show thee," 1 .... But because there 
was another land before him, that is the land of the Chal- 
deans, from whence his father, Thare, came and settled 
in Charran, and because he brought his nephew with him, 
it was said to him, go from thy kindred. Let us consider 
that this is to go from this world, to go from the society 
of this body to that other, of which Paul says: " But our 
conversation is in heaven." 2 

The Church, then, during this time of the year, sets 
before her children the example of Abraham, ca]led to 
the promised land, which God gave to him and to his 
children. But that land of milk and honey was but a 
figure of that other land beyond the grave, to, which we 
are all called. A land not flowing with honey, but filled 
with joy for ever. "Well does the Apostle say of him : 
" By faith, he that is called Abraham obeyed to go out 
into a place which he was to receive for an inheritance, 
and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith 
he dwelt in the land of promise as in a strange country, 
dwelling in cottages with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with 
him of the same promise. For he looked for a city that 

hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God 

All these died according to faith, not having the promises, 
but beholding them afar off ... . but now they desire a 
better, that is to say, a heavenly country." 3 Thus the 
Patriarchs desired to see the Church, the city whose 
foundations are the Apostles, whose builder and maker 
is God. 4 They looked for the land of heaven promised to 
the race of Adam. 

We are then, as the children of Abraham, exiles on this 



1 Gen. xii. 1. 2 Phil. iii. 20 ; St. Ambrose L. de Abram. Patriarch, 1. ii. c. 2. 3 Heb. 
xi. 8, 9, 10, 13, 16. 4 Ibidem. 



MOSES AND PETER. 171 

earth, and during this time of Septuagesima we are to 
always have before our minds the thought that this world 
will pass away and the concupiscence thereof. " For we 
have not here a lasting city, but we seek one that is to 
come." 1 Thus as Abraham came forth from Babylon, a 
figure of this world of sin, into the promised land a figure 
of heaven, thus must we come forth from this world of 
temptations into the true promised land of heaven on the 
earth, thus must we come from the bad ones around us to 
the Church, the true land of promise, where all are saved 
who live within her holy laws. May God and his holy 
angels look down on us from their heavenly abode, while 
the times and the years flow on and death comes rapidly 
towards us. 2 When our Saviour calls us, may he find us 
waiting and prepared. 

In some of the oldest Liturgies they read that part of 
the Gospel, where the history of the blind man of Jericho, 
who was healed by our Lord, is given — a figure of the 
blindness of the people of our days, when the coldness 
of infidelity is blinding the hearts of men. Among the 
Greeks this Sunday is called Tyrophagi, because it is the 
last day they can use white meats, such as cheese, eggs 
and milk, for, according to their ancient customs, these 
were allowed the preceding week. From Monday follow- 
ing Quinquagesima Sunday their Lent begins. 

The Title of the Mass of to-day is the Station at St. 
Peter's, that is, the Mass and the Services of the Church 
for this Sunday are held in the great church of St. Peter's 
in Rome, built on the Vatican Hill. This church was 
chosen for the Services of to-day in the most ancient times, 
when they were accustomed to read the portions of the 
Bible, giving the history of the law of God coming from 
Mount Sinai, because the early Christians looked on 
Moses as a figure of their first Pope Peter. Moses on 
Mount Sinai was a type of Peter on the Vatican Hill. 
Moses dying on the mount foreshadowed Peter dying on 
the Vatican, and when the Church put off the reading of 
the account of the giving of the law of God to the Fourth 
Sunday of Lent and began to read on Quinquagesima 
Sunday, the calling of Abraham, still St. Peter's church 
on the Vatican Hill remained as the place of the Services. 3 

1 Heb. xiii. 14. 2 Introduc. a la vie devote iii. c. xxxiii. 3 Tract, de Offic. Div., 
Rupert. 



172 JERICHO MEANS THE MOON. 

God and his Sacraments are the true sources of our 
sanctification. For that reason we begin the Mass of to- 
day by these words of the Introit, so full of confidence in 
God. 1 

To work out our salvation we ask, in the prayer of to- 
day, three things for God to hear our prayers, to break 
the bonds of our sins, and to deliver us from all evil. 2 

The Epistle is taken from St. Paul to the Corinthians, 3 
where he speaks of the charity which should be in all 
Christians. That charity of which St. Paul speaks is 
freedom from mortal sin, for when we are in sin our good 
works are not rewarded by God, but they only merit the 
grace of disposing us to obtain forgiveness by confession. 

The Gospel is taken from St. Luke, 4 and tells of the 
prophecy of our Lord, how he was to go up to Jerusalem 
and be taken by the Gentiles, be mocked, scourged and 
put to death, and on the third day he would rise from the 
dead. Such is one of the most celebrated prophecies of 
our Lord, who, in this Gospel, foretells the chief part of 
his passion. No one but God could have so clearly told 
before the manner of his death and how he would rise on 
the third day. 5 We are coming nearer and nearer to the 
sufferings of our Lord, and in the grand Liturgy of the 
Church, we are recalled from the things of earth to meditate 
on the sufferings of our divine Master, our Redeemer 
foreseeing that at his death his disciples' minds would be 
disturbed, long before he predicted the sufferings of his 
passion and the glory of his resurrection. 6 This Gospel 
also speaks of the blind man of Jericho having received his 
sight by a miracle of our Lord. "The blind man is the 
human race, which, in our first parent, was driven from 
the happiness of heaven. Human nature ignoring the 
brightness of the heavenly light, suffers the darkness of its 
loss. Nevertheless, it is enlightened by the presence of 

its Redeemer You will notice that when Jesus 

came near to Jericho the blind received his sight, for Jeri- 
cho means the moon, but in the holy Bible the moon means 
a defect of the flesh, while it changes during the month ; 
the moon typifies the weakness of human nature. When 
our Creator comes near to Jericho, the blind receives his 

1 Annee Lit., da Predicat., p. 60. 2 Aunee Lit., du Prcdicat., p. 69. 3 I. Cor. xii. 
4 Luke xviii. 5 Annee Lit., du Predicat., p. 71. 6 Gregorius, Mag. Horn. II. in 
Evang. 



OLD ENGLISH CUSTOMS. 173 

sight, because the Divine took the defects of our flesh, and 
human nature received what it had lost, whence God suf- 
fered in his human nature. Thence man was raised to 
the Divine nature." 1 

To celebrate the miracle of giving sight to the blind 
man of Jericho, the Church thanks the Lord, and asks to be 
taught in the services of to-day his justifications. 2 

The chief gift the Church asks of God, in this time of 
penance, is the forgiveness of our sins, and for that the 
priest offers the sacrifices of the Mass. 3 

IV. — Shrovetide. 

The three days following Quinquagesima Sunday are 
called Shrovetide. The word comes from the old Saxon, 
shrive, which means to go to confession, for in the days 
of old when all England was Catholic, they were accus- 
tomed to prepare on Monday and to go to confession on 
Tuesday to their own parish priest. 4 Our English ances- 
tors following the customs of their fathers taught by St. 
Augustine, redoubled their fervor on these days. All 
who fell under the censures of the Church received for- 
giveness from the hands of their bishop or from the 
clergyman named to act in his place. Public penance 
was practiced in every church. All who injured their 
neighbors, were obliged to restore. 5 That was the cus- 
tom of the Christians of Alexandria in the second and 
third centuries. " Look about very diligently to whom 
you ought to confess your sins .... that if he has 
shown himself a skilful and tender physician and shall 
give you any advice, you carefully follow it." 6 The Chris- 
tians of all ages began the fast of Lent, by first going to 
confession, as shown by the Fathers and the Councils of 
the Church. In ancient times, St. Chrysostom says, " The 
Fathers being aware of the dangers and of the mischief 
of rashly approaching the holy table, appointed these 
forty days to be spent in fasting, prayer, hearing the 
word of God, and meeting together in public prayers, 
that in those holy days, by devotion, alms-deeds, fasting, 
watching, tears, confession, and all other means, every 

1 Greg. Mag., Ibidem. 2 Annee Lit. p. 61. 3 Annee Lit., p. 72. 4 P. Cyc, Braride. 
5 Butler's Mov. Feasts and Fasts, pp. 121, 122. 6 Origen, Horn. II., in Psalm xxxvii. 



174 ANCIENT LAWS. 

one may carefully cleanse his soul in order to partake of 
it with a pure conscience." 1 Alcuinus tells all Christians 
to confess their sins on the "Head of the Fast," that is, 
on these days before Lent. 2 Theodulph, bishop of 
Orleans, requests the people, as a preparation for Lent, 
to make their confessions and reconcile their differences. 3 
Burchard, bishop of Worms, says the same. 4 The coun- 
cil of Paris 5 commanded that no one should be allowed 
to go to Communion on Easter who had not been to con- 
fession about the beginning of Lent. The third Council 
of Ravenna 6 ordered all priests to explain to their people 
the IVth Lateran Council, which obliges all of both sexes, 
from the age of seven years old and upward, to go once 
to confession at least each year, under pain of being 
driven from the Church while living, and deprived of 
Christian burial when they die. 7 Another council, held 
in Spain, commanded, under pain of excommunication, 
Rectors of churches to publish the Decree of the IVth 
Lateran Council. 8 From these Fathers and Councils, it 
will appear how clear is the spirit of the Church in ex- 
horting the people to prepare for the Lenten season by 
going to confession and receiving the grace of God, and 
to be in the state of grace in order that their fasting may 
have merit before God, for penance and fasting in the 
state of sin has no reward before God. " If I have not 
charity, I am nothing." 9 On the care with which we 
make this confession depends the fruit of our penance 
and fast during Lent. If any one has the misfortune to 
be in a state of mortal sin, their works are only a means 
of obtaining a perfect conversion ; but when they are not 
in a state of grace, or of charity, as the Apostle says, 
their fasting and their works of penance are neither sat- 
isfactory nor merit everlasting life. 10 Confession also pre- 
pares the penitent to spend Lent in a Christian manner, 
to apply the right remedies to the wounds made in his 
soul by sin. 

This has been the practice of the most holy and the 
most venerable of the great Saints and Pastors of the 
Church. St. Charles Borromeo wrote many of his pas- 



1 Or. in eos qui Pascha jejunant con. Judeos. 2 L. de Div. Offic. c. 13. 3 Capi. 
c. xxxvi. 4 Decret. 1. xv. 5 Held in 1420. s Concil. Raven, iii. sub. Clemente V., 1311. 
7 Concil. iv. Lat. sub. Innocent III. c. xxi. 8 Concil. Sabiensi sub. Joanne XXL, an. 
1322. 9 I. Cor, xiii. 2. 10 Butler's Feasts and Fasts, p. 124. 



ORIGIN OF THE "FORTY HOURS." 175 

toral letters against the excesses and the profanations of 
Shrovetide. 1 In one place he says, " God calls upon us 
to mourn, but despising his voice, we run to banqueting." 2 
This holy pastor each year exhorted the people of his 
diocese to spend well these three days before Lent. 

Cardinal Archbishop Palseota, when he sat on the archi- 
episcopal throne of Bologna, was the second great light 
after St. Charles in keeping up the devotion of the 
people during Shrovetide. He began at Bologna the 
thirty hours' devotion in the monasteries and in the 
parish churches during the three days of Shrovetide, 
having each day a sermon with indulgences. Afterward 
the wonderfully learned Cardinal Lambertini, who be- 
came Pope Benedict XIV., at Bologna began the prayers 
of the Forty Hours' Devotion to the Blessed Sacrament, 
in remembrance and in honor of the forty hours of our 
Lord in the tomb. He commanded the Devotion to be 
carried out with sermons, processions and the Benediction 
of the Most Holy Sacrament. 3 When he became Pope 
he granted many privileges to all the clergy, who would 
confess, communicate and visit any church in which the 
Blessed Sacrament is exposed on three days each in the 
weeks of Septuagesima, Sexagesima and Quinquagesima. 
His successor, Pope Clement XIII., extended this privi- 
lege to the whole Church. 4 Now it has become spread 
throughout the whole world, and . the devotion is known 
by the name of The Forty Hours' Devotion. This devo- 
tion to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament is held in 
every diocese of the world in such a way that it is opened 
in each church on a certain day of the year, by direction 
of the bishop, so that our Lord is worshipped every day 
in some part of the diocese where there are churches 
enough to have it three days in each. The people come, 
and all receive the sacraments and gain the indulgences. 
The clergy, nuns and the people spent their time before 
the altar on bended knees, in adoration of their Lord. 

Fr. Angel, of Joyeuse, once a duke, a peer and a 
marshal of France, renounced all worldly honors to serve 
God as a Capuchin friar. He preached eloquent ser- 
mons against the disorders of the people at Shrovetide. 



1 St. Charles Acta Concil. Mediolan. t. ii. p. 920. a T. ii. p. 922, 3 Benedict XIV. 
lust. xiv. 4 Brief, July, 1765, 



176 TWO GREAT PASSIONS. 

Felix,*bishop of Ipres, charged the clergy of his diocese 
to keep from all banquets, meetings and places of pleas- 
ure during this holy time. 1 Thus should we pass the 
days of Shrovetide. 

Another part of this preparation for Lent consists in 
increasing our self denial^ making frequent acts of sorrow 
for sin, doing good to others, overlooking the faults of 
our neighbors, and mortifying ourselves. When in this 
time of penance the Church clothes her altars and her 
clergy in mourning, and sings no more her joyful songs 
of praises to the Lord — when she sits amid the signs of 
penance and of sorrow, if we enter not into her spirit of 
penance, the prayers of her services are but mockery and 
hypocrisy in our mouths. By her sermons and her grand 
Liturgy she now invites us with her to sanctify our fast- 
ings and to prepare for Lent. "As wrestlers exercise 
themselves before the combat, so must Christians practice 
self denial, so as to prepare themselves for fasting." 2 
"As doctors before they give medicine prescribe fasting, 
so as to prepare the body for carrying off the morbid 
humors, so fasting, that it may be made wholesome for 
the soul, must be preceded by the practice of temper- 
ance." 3 In another place he says, "Who can be so ex- 
travagantly mad as to pretend to prepare himself to live 
chastely by wallowing in the filth of impurities?" 4 This 
was the way the monks and hermits of old prepared 
themselves for their long and austere fasts, by which they 
became great saints ; and to follow them to heaven we 
must follow them in their penance and self denial. Two 
passions are strongest in us — the sense of taste and the 
sense of immodesty. They are both good, and were 
given to man by God for a good purpose. One is to pre- 
serve the individual, and the other to preserve the race. 
When we give ourselves up to the first we become glut- 
tons or drunkards ; when we give ourselves up to the 
other, we become immodest or libertines. These two 
passions are so closely united, that unless we control our 
tastes we cannot control our lower passions. Thus with 
the wisdom of the Lord does the Church tell us to fast at 
first, that we may be able to keep our passions under con- 



1 Instruc. Past, I. 18, 1768. 2 St. Basil, Horn. I. de Jejun., n. x. p. 9. 3 St. Chrysos- 
tom, Horn. IV. in Gen. t. 4, Ed. Ben. 4 Horn, V, de Penet., n. 5, t. ii. p. 316. 



BEGINNING LENT. 177 

trol. The most celebrated doctors in the world say that 
nearly one third of the race die by diseases brought on 
by over eating, and as a rule, those who are temperate in 
eating and drinking enjoy good health till ripe old age. 

When that arch enemy of the Christian religion, Ma- 
homet, stole parts of the Bible, and wrote his book, the 
Koran, he took the practices of the first ages of Chris- 
tianity relating to fasting, and his followers have pre- 
served them till to-day. For some time before their 
Lent, which lasts a month, they fast on herbs, seasoned 
with salt and vinegar, drinking nothing but water. 1 

The seasons of Septuagesima and of Lent were com- 
menced by the Christians of the Apostolic time to turn 
their followers from the heathen customs of the pagans. 

From the customs of past ages we see that all people 
prepared for Lent by going to confession. From the 
spirit of the Church in keeping the time of Septuagesima 
as a season of fasting and as a preparation for Lent, we 
see that the people should not spend the time in pleasures, 
in parties and dancing, as they are accustomed to do in 
our days, but in a spirit of penance and fasting as a pre- 
paration for Lent. 

V. — Ash Wednesday. 

The fast of Lent begins on Ash Wednesday and lasts 
till Easter Sunday. During this time there are forty-six 
days, but as we do not fast on the six Sundays falling in 
this time, the fast lasts for forty days. For that reason 
it is called the forty days of Lent. In the Latin lan- 
guage of the Church it is called the Quadragesima, that 
is, forty. St. Peter, the first Pope, instituted the forty 
days of Lent. 2 During the forty-six days from Ash 
Wednesday to Easter, we are to spend the time in fasting 
and in penance for our sins, building up the temple of 
the Lord within our hearts, after having come forth from 
the Babylon of this world by the rites and the services 
of the Septuagesima season. And as of old we read that 
the Jews, after having been delivered from their captivity 
in Babylon, spent forty-six years in building their temple 



1 Auger. Ghislin. Bus. Legat. Turcicae, Ep. iii. 2 Durandus, Rationale Div., L. vi, 
c. xxviii, n. 2. 



178 THE TENTH PART OF THE YEAR. 

in place of the grand edifice raised by Solomon and de- 
stroyed by the Babylonians, thus must we rebuild the 
temple of the Holy Ghost, built by God at the moment 
of our baptism, but destroyed by the sins of the past year. 
Again in the Old Testament the tenth part of all the sub- 
stance of the Jews was given to the Lord. 1 Thus we 
must give him the tenth part of our time while on this 
earth. For forty days we fast, but taking out the Sun- 
days of Lent, when there is no fast, it leaves thirty-six 
days, nearly the tenth part of the three hundred and sixty- 
five days of the year. According to Pope Gregory. 2 from 
the first Sunday of Lent to Easter, there are six weeks, 
making forty-two days, and when we take from Lent the 
six Sundays during which we do not fast, we have left 
thirty-six days, about the tenth part of the three hundred 
and sixty-five days of the year. 

The forty da}^s of fasting comes down to us from the 
Old Testament, for we read that Moses fasted forty days 
on the mount. 3 We are told that Elias fasted for forty days, 4 
and again we see that our Lord fasted forty days in the 
desert. 5 We are to follow the example of these great men 
of the old law. But in order to make up the full fast of 
forty days of Moses, of Elias and of our Lord, Pope Greg- 
ory commanded the fast of Lent to begin on Ash Wednes- 
day before the first Sunday of the Lenten season. Christ 
began his fast of forty days after his baptism in the Jor- 
dan, on Epiphany, the twelfth of January, when he 
went forth into the desert. But we do not begin the Lent 
after Epiphany, because there are other feasts and sea- 
sons in which to celebrate the mysteries of the childhood 
of our Lord before we come to his fasting, and because 
during these forty days of Lent we celebrate the forty 
years of the Jews in the desert, who, when their wander- 
ings were ended, they celebrated their Easter, while we 
hold ours after the days of Lent are finished. Again, 
during Lent, we celebrate the passion of our Lord, and as 
after his passion came his resurrection, thus we celebrate 
the glories of his resurrection at Easter. 

During the services of Lent we read so often the words : 



1 Exod. xxii. 29 ; Levit. xxvii. 39. 2 De Consecr. dist. 5 Quadragesima. 3 Exod. 
xxiv. et xxxiv. 28. 4 III. Kings xix. 8. 5 Math. iv. ; Luke i\."] St. August, in 
Epist. 119. 



WHY PRAY ON BENDED KNEES? 179 

"Humble your heads before the Lord," and "let us bend 
our knees," because it is the time when we should humble 
ourselves before God and bend our knees in prayers. After 
the words, "Let us bend our knees," comes the word, 
"Arise." These words are never said on Sunday, but only 
on week days, for Sunday is dedicated to the resurrection 
of our Lord. Pope Gregory says: "Who bends the knee 
on Sunday denies God to have risen." .We bend our 
knees and prostrate ourselves to the earth in prayer, to 
show the weakness of our bodies, which are made of earth ; 
to show the weakness of our minds and imagination, which 
we cannot control; to show our shame for sin, for we 
cannot lift our eyes to heaven ; to follow the example of 
our Lord, who came down from heaven and prostrated 
himself on the ground in the garden when in prayer ; x to 
show that we were driven from Paradise and that we are 
prone towards earthly things ; to show that we follow the 
example of our father in the faith, Abraham, who, falling 
upon the earth, adored the Lord. 2 This was the custom 
from the beginning of the Christian Church, as Origen 
says : " The holy prophets when they were surrounded 
with trials fell upon their faces, that their sins might be 
purged by the affliction of their bodies." 3 Thus follow- 
ing the words of St. Paul : " I bow my knees to the Fa- 
ther of our Lord Jesus Christ," 4 we prostrate ourselves 
and bend our knees in prayer. Prom Ash Wednesday to 
Passion Sunday the Preface of Lent is said every day, un- 
less there comes a feast with a Preface of its own. 5 That 
custom was in vogue as far back as the twelfth century. 5 
At other times of the year, the clergy say the Office of 
Yespers after noon, but an ancient Council 7 allowed Ves- 
pers to be commenced after Mass. This is when the Of- 
fice is said altogether by the clergy in the choir. The 
same may be done by each clergyman when reciting pri- 
vately his Office. This cannot be done on the Sundays 
of Lent, 8 as they are not fasting days. The " Go, the 
dismissal is at hand," is not said, but in its place, " Let 
us bless the Lord," for, from the earliest times the clergy 
and the people remained in the church to sing the 

1 Math. xxvi. 39. 2 Gen. xviii. 2. 3 Origen, Horn, in Verba ; Brant Joseph et Maria 
mirantes. 4 Ephes. iii. 14. 5 Rub. Mis. Fer. IV. Cin. Prae. 6 Durandus, Rationale 
Div., 1. vi, c. xxviii, n. 11. 7 Concil. Cabilouens. De Con. Dist. I. Solent. 8 Rub. Sab, 
I. in Quadrag. Brev. P. Veraa. 



180 WHY LENT BEGINS ON WEDNESDAY. 

Yesper Office and to pray during this time of fasting and 
of penance. 

We begin the fast of Lent on Wednesday, for the most 
ancient traditions of the Church tell us that while our 
Lord was born on Sunday, he was baptized on Tuesday, 
and began his fast in the desert on Wednesda} 7 . 1 ' Again, 
Solomon began the building of his great temple on Wed- 
nesday, and we are to prepare our bodies by fasting, to be- 
come the temples of the Holy Ghost, as the Apostle says, 
" Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that 
the Spirit of God dwelleth in you ?" 2 To begin well the 
Lent, one of the old Councils directed all the people 
with the clergy to come to the church on Ash Wednes- 
day to assist at the Mass and the Yesper Offices and to 
give help to the poor, then they were allowed to go and 
break their fast. 3 

The name Ash Wednesday comes from the ceremony 
of putting ashes on the heads of the clergy and the peo- 
ple on this day. Let us understand the meaning of this 
rite. When man sinned by eating in the garden the for- 
bidden fruit, God drove him from Paradise with the 
words : " For dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt re- 
turn." 4 Before his sin, Adam was not to die, but to be 
carried into heaven after a certain time of trial here upon 
this earth. But he sinned, and by that sin he brought 
upon himself and us, his children, death. Our bodies, 
then, are to return to the dust from which God made 
them, to which they are condemned by the sin of Adam. 
What wisdom the Church shows us when she invites us 
by these ceremonies to bring before our minds the dust 
and the corruption of the grave by putting ashes on our 
heads. We see the great men of old doing penance in 
sackcloth and ashes. 5 Job did penance in dust and 
ashes. 6 By the mouth of his prophet the Lord com- 
manded the Jews " in the house of the dust sprinkle 
yourselves with dust." 7 Abraham said, "I will speak to 
the Lord, for I am dust and ashes." 8 Joshua and all the 
ancients of Israel fell on their faces before the Lord and 
put dust upon their heads. 9 When the ark of the covenant 



1 Durandus, Rationale Div., 1. xxviii. n. 13. 2 I. Cor. iii. 16. 3 Concil. Cabilonen. 
De Consecr. Dist. 1 Solet. 4 Gen. iii. 19. 5 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c xxx. 
Cuaresnaa. 6 Job ii. 12. 7 Mich. i. 10. 8 Gen, xviii. 27. 9 Joshua vii. 6. 



DUST AND ASHES SIGNS OF SOREOW. 181 

was taken by the Philistines, the soldier came to tell the 
sad story with his head covered with dust. 1 When Job's 
three friends came and found him in such affliction, 
"they sprinkled dust upon their heads toward heaven." 2 
" The sorrows of the daughters of Israel are seen in the 
dust upon their heads." 3 Daniel said his prayers to the 
Lord his God in fasting, sackcloth and ashes. 4 Our Lord 
tells us that if in Tyre and Sidon had been done the mir- 
acles seen in Judea, that they had long ago done penance 
in sackcloth and ashes. 5 When the great city will be de- 
stroyed, its people will cry out with grief, putting dust 
upon their heads. 6 From these parts of the Bible, the 
reader will see that dust and ashes were used by the peo- 
ple of old as a sign of deep sorrow for sin, 7 and that 
when they fasted they covered their heads with ashes. 
From them the Church copied these ceremonies which 
have come down to us. And on this day, when we begin 
our fast, we put ashes on our heads with the words, 
" Kemember, man, that thou art dust, and into dust thou 
shalt return." 8 

In the beginning of the Church the ceremony of put- 
ting the ashes on the heads of the people was only for 
those who were guilty of sin, and who were to spend the 
season of Lent in public penance. Before Mass they 
came to the church, confessed their sins, and received 
from the hands of the clergy the ashes on their heads. 
Then the clergy and all the people prostrated themselves 
upon the earth and there recited the seven penitential 
psalms. Bising, they formed into a procession with the 
penitents walking barefooted. When they came back the 
penitents were sent out of the church by the bishop, say- 
ing : "We drive you from the bosom of the Church on ac- 
count of your sins and for your crimes, as Adam, the 
first man was driven from Paradise because of his sin." 
While the clergy were singing those parts of Genesis, 
where we read that God condemned our first parents to 
be driven from the garden and condemned to earn their 
bread by the sweat of their brow, the porters fastened 
the doors of the church on the penitents, who were not 
allowed to enter the temple of the Lord again till they 



i I Kings iv. 12. 2 Job ii. 12. 3 Lam. ii. 10. 4 Dan. ix, 3. 5 Math. xi. 21 ; Luke 
X. 13. 6 Apoc. xviii. 19. t S. Aug. vol. xi. 34. 8 Gen. iii. 19. 



182 ASH WEDNESDAY IN ANCIENT TIMES 

finished their penance and came to be absolved on Holy 
Thursday. 1 After the eleventh century public penance 
began to be laid aside, but the custom of putting ashes 
on the heads of the clergy became more and more com- 
mon, till at length it became part of the Latin Rite. 
Formerly they used to come up to the altar railing in 
their bare feet to receive the ashes, and that solemn 
notice of their death and of the nothingness of man. In 
the twelfth century the Pope and all his court came to 
the Church of St. Sabina, in Rome, walking all the way 
in his bare feet, from whence the title of the Mass said 
on Ash Wednesday is the Station at St. Sabina. 



1 Gueranger, Le Temps de la Septuagesinw, p. 242. 



V- 




Cathedral of Lincoln, 



Chapter VI. — The Lenten Season. 



REASONS RELATING TO THE LENTEN SEASON. 

The word Lent, in the ancient languages of northern 
Europe, means the Spring fast, to distinguish it from Ad- 
vent, the Fall or Winter fast. The Latin and Greek 
names of Lent mean forty days, and from these come the 
names of Lent in the French, Italian, Spanish, and the 
tongues of southern Europe, which are formed from the 
Latin and Greek. Lent is the solemn fast of forty days 
held yearly by the Church before the feast of Easter. 
This season is commanded to be observed by the laws of 
the Church, and is most venerable for its ancient origin, 
its holiness and its spiritual fruit. Going back through 
the ages past, we trace its history through every genera- 
tion and age up to the times of the Apostles. All his- 
tories, all monuments, all writers, all the Fathers of the 
Church, and all records which speak of these things, even 
to the times of the successors of our Lord's disciples, all 
who have written on these subjects, speak of Lent as a 
time of fasting and of penance. It is mentioned so often 1 
and in words so clear in the works of the bygone cen- 
turies, in the sermons of the pastors, in the letters of the 
bishops, in the homilies of the Saints, in the decrees of 
the councils, and in the letters of the popes, that no one 
ever doubted that it began at the Apostolic ages. Pope 
St. Telesphorus commanded it to be kept as an Apostolic 
tradition. 2 Scarcely a hundred years had gone from the 
death of St. John, the last of the Apostles, when a misun- 
derstanding arose among the early Christians about the 
time when the yearly fast of Lent should be kept and the 
feast of Easter celebrated. 3 The Christians of Asia cele- 
brated the ceremonies of our Lord's resurrection on the 
fourteenth moon of the month of March, the day the Jews 



1 S. Aug. speaks of Lent in 52 places in his works. 2 Brev. Rom. Of. S. Telesphori. 
Eusebius 1. v., Hist. c. 23. 



THE OBIGIN OF LENT. 185 

celebrated their Easter, while the converts of Europe, 
following the Latin Rite, kept Easter on the first Sunday 
following the fourteenth moon of March. St. Polycarp, 
the disciple of St. John the Evangelist, when bishop of 
Smyrna, came to Rome to get instructions on the matter 
from the Pope Anicletus. 1 Again, St. Irenseus wrote to 
Pope Victor, asking him to tolerate the custom of the 
Asiatics in celebrating Easter on the same day as the 
Jews. In the year 200 all Christians throughout the 
world kept the fast of the forty days of Lent. 2 Not 
being thoroughly instructed, there were many customs 
then among the early Christians. " They measured their 
day by counting the hours both of the night and of the 
day. And this variety among those who observe the fast 
did not begin in our age, but long before us, among our 
ancestors, many of whom, probably, not being very ex- 
act in their observances, handed down to posterity the 
custom as it had been through simplicity or private fancy 
introduced among them For the difference in ob- 
serving the fast does only so much more commend the 
common unity of faith in which all are agreed." By these 
words, St. Irenaeus tells us, that this "observance was 
handed down to posterity," and, consequently, as he wrote 
before the end of the second century, it must carry us 
back at least a hundred years to the time of the Apostles. 3 
The Apostolic Constitutions say Lent "is to be observed 
by you as containing a memorial of our Lord's mode of 
life." 4 They also give instructions to begin the solemnity 
of Lent before the Passover. Tertullian speaks of 
fasting in eighteen places in one of his works. 5 St. 
Epiphanius says three classes of persons kept the fast of 
Lent in his time. Some took nothing till the evening, 
and then only dried meats or bread and water during the 
whole Lent ; others eat a full meal each day, while others 
continued this severe fast to Holy Week. 6 St. Dionysius 
of Alexandria, in the third century, speaks of these differ- 
ent ways of fasting on Holy Week, saying that some passed 
the whole week without taking any food at all, others 
went only four, and others but two days of the week be- 
fore Easter without eating. The name " forty days' fast" 

1 In 158. 2 St. Irenaeus Frag. Ep. ad Victor ap. Eus. 1. v, Hist. c. 24. 3 Bishop 
Beveridge, Ip. Cod. Can. Vind. 1. iii, c. viii. 4 Book V, Sec. iii. n. xiii. 5 Tertullian, 
vol. iii. Clark's^Edition. 6 Epiphanius de Expos. Fidei. 



186 TESTIMONY OF THE FATHERS. 

is spoken of by Origen. 1 Montanus, a hermit of the sec- 
ond century, who claimed that the Holy Ghost dwelled 
in him for the reformation of Christians, and those who 
followed him, kept three Lenten fasts during the year. 2 
Some think that the name, "Forty Days' Fast," must 
have been given to Lent in the early days of the Apostles, 3 
and to have been called from the forty days of our Lord's 
fasting in the desert. St. Jerome, speaking of the error 
of the Montanists says : " We fast one Lent of forty days 
in the year, the whole world agreeing with us. They fast 
three Lents, as if three Saviours had suffered." 4 Tertul- 
lian, who fell into these errors, tries to defend the ob- 
servance of these three Lents which were condemned by 
the Church. 5 There is no doubt that the Apostles com- 
manded the last days of Lent to be kept as fasting days, 
as all writers of those early times teach, and it is almost 
certain that they taught that the whole forty days should 
be observed, although we cannot find it in any of their 
writings or in the works of their disciples, for many of 
their books were destroyed. 6 St. Irenseus, who lived be- 
fore Tertullian, tells us that of the fast of forty days, that 
he and the Fathers knew Lent to be an Apostolic tradition. 
St. Jerome says : " Lent, as well as the keeping of Sun- 
days, comes from the Apostles." 7 Pope Leo calls it an 
Apostolic institution. 8 St. Chrysostom thinks it came 
not from man, but from God. 9 Theophilus, Bishop of 
Alexandria, and his nephew and successor, St. Cyril, de- 
clare Lent to have come down from the Apostles. St. 
Isidore, of Seville, writes : " Lent is kept over the whole 
world by an Apostolic institution." 10 Dorotheus teaches 
that " The holy Apostles consecrated the fast of Lent as 
a tithing of the year to penance and to the purging away 
of sin." 11 St. Augustine says: " Whatever days we keep not 
from any written law but from tradition, and which are 
observed over the whole world, are understood to be re- 
commended and established either by the Apostles, or by 
Plenary Councils, such as the yearly solemnities of 
Christ's passion." 12 " What the whole Church holds, and 
what was not instituted by councils but always observed, 



1 Horn X. in Levit, t. i. 2 St. Hier. Ep. ad Marcel. 3 Rig. i. t. i. 4 Ep. xxvii. ad 
Marcellam, t. iv. 5 Tertul. de Jejunio, c. xiii. 6 Tertul. L. de Orat. c. xiv. et L. Adv. 
Pych., c. xiv. 7 L. ii. in Galat. c. 4. 8 Sermo iv., v. et ix. de Quadragesima. 9 SermQ 
xi, et clxvi. l0 Orig., 1. vi. c. 19. J1 Uoctrina 15. vz Ep. cxviii, ad Jan. t. it 



LENT COMES FKOM THE APOSTLES. 187 

is justly looked upon as being derived from the authority 
of the Apostles." 1 The Apostolic Canons command 
clergymen to be deprived of their office, and lay persons 
to be suspended from the Church for not fasting during 
the forty days of Lent. 2 

No writer has ever dared to doubt that Lent goes back 
to the beginning of the Church and to come down to us 
from the time of the Apostles and their disciples. We 
are obliged to fast, not by the law of nature, but by the 
example of the great and holy ones of the Old Testament, 
and especially by the example of our Lord in his fast of 
forty days in the desert. All Christians of the early ages 
considered that they were obliged to fast as a strict ob- 
ligation. St. Basil declares that those who are able to 
fast, and yet do not, will be called to account by him who 
is the lawmaker of the fast, God himself. 3 St. Ireneeus 
tells us that : "Not to fast in Lent is a sin." 4 St. Greg- 
ory of Nazianzen wrote to a judge who did not fast in 
Lent, "O judge, you commit a crime by not fasting." 5 
St. Ambrose left seven sermons on Lent. St. Augustine 
speaks in his works in sixty-seven places of the fast of 
Lent. Among other things, he says, that "Lent is a holy 
time throughout the whole world," that " it is held each 
year," that " it is the chief fast," that " it is observed by 
abstaining from wine and meat," that " it is held not by 
superstition, but by the law of God," that " the Christians 
of his time eat no meat or certain kinds of fruit or deli- 
cacies of the table," 6 that " those who kept it are happy," 
that "it is the way to take up our cross and crucify the 
body, give to the poor, forgive our enemies, keep from 
plays, do good to all, and that we fast before Easter and 
before baptism, because Christ fasted forty days after his 
baptism," and many beautiful things besides he gives re- 
lating to the fast of Lent, as held by the Christians of his 
time. 7 

The councils of the Church command the fast of Lent. 
The Council of Laodicea uses a Greek word which ex- 
presses the strictest obligation of fasting the forty days 
of Lent. 8 Another forbade breaking the fast 9 on Thurs- 



1 St. Aug., I. iv. de Bapt., c. xxiv. n. 31. 2 Can. 69. 3 Horn. II. de Jejun. 4 Aurel. 
Horn. II. 5 Epist. lxxiv. ad Gelus. 6 S. Aug. Contra Fourt, 1. xxx. n. v. 7 St. 
Augustine, Bishop of Hippo, Opera Omnia Pariis Apud. Melier, 8 C. xix, 9 Cpncil, 
Laodiceeum. An. 320, under Silvester I, 



188 COUNCILS COMMANDING LENT. 

days of Lent. Later the fathers of a council ordered 
Lent to be observed before Easter? 1 Again, " Let Lent 
be kept by all churches." 2 The old custom of fasting 
will be continued by the monks from Quinquagesima to 
Easter. 3 All priests were obliged to preach to the people 
about the fast of Lent before Epiphany, 4 and those who 
were weak for any reason were not bound to keep the fast 
in Lent, 5 but those who were able had to fast with devo- 
tion and prayer in this holy time. 6 At one time cheese and 
eggs were not allowed in Lent. 7 The same with butter 
were forbidden by a later council. 8 From these and many 
other councils of the Church, which could be given, the 
reader can see how old and how widespread is the obli- 
gation of fasting during Lent. 

The Nestorians, the Eutychians, the Armenians and the 
other heretics of the East, who separated from the Catho- 
lic Church in the fifth century, agree with us in celebrat- 
ing the forty days of the fast of our Lord by keeping Lent, 9 
and to-day they cannot believe any one a Christian who 
does not fast in this holy time. In the fourth century, 
Aerius, a follower of the false teachings of Arius, taught 
new doctrines, that there is no difference between bishops 
and priests by divine law ; that it is useless to pray for the 
dead, and that it is not necessary to keep feasts and fasts. 
His teachings are to-day held by the Presbyterians. 10 
Aerius was living when St. Epiphanius and St. Augustine 
wrote against him. 11 He was condemned by the Arians as 
well as by the Catholics. Lent was so well known in the 
days of St. Basil that he says : " There is no island, no 
continent, no city, no nation, no corner of the earth ever 
so remote, in which this fast is not proclaimed. Armies, 
travellers, sailors, merchants, though far from home, every- 
where hear the solemn promulgation and receive it 
with joy." 12 Thus was the fast of Lent held in the 
days of the Byzantine empire, when the learning of the 
great St. Basil was heard in Asia Minor, and when the 
golden tongued St. Chrysostom was preaching his grand 



1 Concil. Aurelian L, An. 507, under Pope Synimachus. 2 Concil. Anrelian IV., An. 
545, under Pope Vigilius. 3 Concil, Turonen. An. 570, under Pope John III. 4 Concil. 
Antisiodorens, An. 590, under Pope Gregory I. 5 Concil. Toletan. XII., An. 653, under 
Pope Martini. 6 Concil. Tribur., An. 985, under Pope Formosus. 7 Concil. Quin- 
tilin. C. 8, An. 1085, under Gregory VII. 8 Concil. Mediolan. C. 7, An. 1565, under 
Pope Pius IV. 9 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 171, note. 10 Heylin's History of 
Presbyterians. ai An. 376, 45J8. 12 Horn. Jejun., p. 11, Ed. Ben. 



JEWISH FASTS. 189 

and eloquent sermons in Constantinople, the capital 
founded by Constantine the Great, when he moved his 
empire from Rome to the banks of the Bosphorus. 

From the days of the Apostles the members of the 
Church always fasted during Lent, a custom which they 
learned from the Jews. The people of Mneve by their 
sins had provoked the anger of God ; but, at the preach- 
ing of Jonas, the prophet, they observed a strict fast, 
and crying to the Lord for pardon, they were forgiven. 1 
The Jews fasted when they asked God pardon for their 
sins. 2 God spoke to them by the mouth of his inspired 
prophet, " Be converted to me with all your heart in fast- 
ing and in weeping and in mourning." 3 The Rechabites, 
the descendants of Jonadab, in the reign of Jehu, never 
drank wine, and were afterwards porters in the temple of 
the Lord. 4 

Many of the Jews dedicated themselves to God under 
the name of Assideans, and kept a continual fast. 5 The 
Nazarites did the same. 6 The Pharisees were noted for 
their fasting. " I fast twice in a week/' says one of them. 7 
By direction of Samuel, the people of Israel kept a fast 
after they were defeated by the Philistines. 8 King David 
fasts at the death of his child, 9 and when defeated, "till 10 
his knees are weakened through fasting." 11 In the time 
of danger, King Josaphat prayed with fasting. 12 Esdras, 
the rebuilder of the temple, fasted. The bad Achab, by 
fasting, turned away the anger of God. 13 Ninemias, by 
fasting, hastened the return of the Jews from their cap- 
tivity in Babylon. 14 Judith and the people of Bethulia, 
by fasting and prayer, were delivered from the army of 
Holof ernes. 15 Mordecai, and Esther with her maids, 
fasted, and by that means were given strength to deliver 
their people, the Jews, from destruction. 16 Tobias, by 
fasting, was cured of blindness, and received great com- 
fort from the Lord, whence the Archangel said to his son, 
" Prayer is good, with fasting and alms, more than to lay 
up treasures of gold." 17 The lives of the Apostles, of the 
disciples and of the early Christians were like a continual 

1 Jonas iii. 2 I. Kinc:s vii. 6 ; II. Kings xii. 16 ; Ps. xxxiv. 13 ; lxviii. ii ; cviii.24; 
II. Esdras i. 4. etc. 3 Joel ii. 12. 4 Jer. xxxv. 8 ; Calmet Com. in Jer., t. viii. p. 70. 
5 I. Mac. ii. 42 ; vii. 13, and II. Mac. xiv. 6. 6 Numb. vi. 2 ; Jud. xiii. 7, 16 ; Amos ii. 
12; Acts xviii. 18. 7 Luke xviii. 12. 8 I. Kings vii. 6. 9 II. Kings xii. 16. 10 Ps. 
xxxiv. 13. " Ps. cviii. 24. 12 II. Par. xx. 3, 6. 13 I. Esdras viii. 21, 23. 14 II. Esdras 
i. 4. > 5 Judith iv. 7, 11. 16 Esth. iv. 16 ; Esth. xiv. 2. 17 Tob. xii. 8. 



190 our lord's fast. 

fast, 1 for they followed tlie example of the Jews ; but es- 
pecially in Lent they followed the severe example of 
Moses, of Elias and of our Lord in their fast of forty days. 
All Christians keep Lent, besides the fasts of Wednes- 
days and Fridays of the year, established by the Apos- 
tles, as tradition tells us. 2 

The example of our Lord, in his fast of forty days in 
the desert, has been the origin of the Christian Lent. 
All his disciples followed his footsteps, as he says, " But 
the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken 
away from them, and then they shall fast. 3 Speaking of a 
certain devil, he says : " This kind is not cast out but by 
prayer and fasting. 4 Anna, in the temple, fasted day and 
night." 5 The Lord told his followers, " When you fast, 
be not as the hypocrites, sad." 6 

After their Lord went up into heaven, we find that his 
followers fasted, for we read that, as they were minister- 
ing, to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Ghost commanded 
them to ordain Saul and Barnabas, " Then, they, fasting 
and praying, and imposing their hands upon them and sent 
them away." 7 Again we read, that sailing " was danger- 
ous, because the fast was now past ; Paul comforted 
them." 8 St. Paul himself, the Apostle of the nations, 
telling us of his sufferings, speaks of fasting " in prisons, 
in seditions, in labors, in watchings, in fastings." 9 Again, 
"in much watchings, in hunger and thirst, in fastings 
often." 10 He tells us how to live so as to be saved. "I 
chastise my body and bring it into subjection, lest, per- 
haps, when I have preached to others, I myself should 
become a castaway." 11 

Not only the Jews, but all the nations of the ancient 
world fasted, which they held as one of their religious 
ceremonies. The priests of Isis and of Osiris fasted from 
meat, eggs, milk and wine, eating only rice seasoned with 
oil. 12 The magicians of Persia eat only meal and pulse. 
The Gymnosophists of India lived on fruits plucked from 
the trees on the banks of the Ganges. The prophets of 
Jupiter, in Crete, would take no meat or anything cooked 
by fire. The pagan priests never offered sacrifice to their 



1 Clemens Alex., 1. ii. Paedag. c. 1. 2 Butler's Feasts and Fasts, pp. 156, 157; Guer- 
anger, Le Careme, p. 10, etc. 3 Math. ix. 15. 4 Math, xvii. 20 ; Mark ix. 28. 5 Luke 
ii. 37. 6 Math. vi. 16. 7 Acts xiii. 2, 3. 8 Acts xxvii. 9. 9 II. Cor. vi. 5. 10 II. Cor. 
xi. 27. J1 I. Cor. ix. 27. 12 Jerome, Adv. Jovin., 1. ii. t. 4. 



FASTING AMONG THE PAGANS. 191 

gods without first preparing themselves by fasting. 1 The 
heathens prepared themselves by fasting before they 
consulted their oracles. 2 When taking part in the cere- 
monies of the goddess Ceres, they fasted till the evening. 3 
The ladies of Egypt and of Athens had their feasts and 
fasts, when they slept on the bare ground. 4 All the 
members of the seven sects into which the Mohometans 
are divided in the countries of Asia and of Africa, keep 
the fast of their month of Ramazan, which, because they 
count the year by the changes of the moon, runs through 
all the seasons. At this season, no one is excused from 
fasting ; the high and the low, even the Sultan himself 
abstains from eating. When they are too sick to fast in 
this time, they make it up by fasting when they get well. 5 
The Jews to-day, as well as in olden times, practice fast- 
ing as a religious ceremony. Pythagoras and Aristotle 
recommend abstinence from flesh meat. Thus, all na- 
tions of antiquity had their days and their times for 
fasting, showing us that such a Avidespread custom came 
from the origin of the race, and that they had preserved 
a tradition of the fall of man by eating in the garden of 
Paradise. 6 

Three things were forbidden to the Christians in the 
different ages of the Church during Lent : wine, meat and 
food. In the first ages, wine was not allowed. 7 Absti- 
nence from wine was never very common among the peo- 
ple of the Western Church, but it is yet a law among the 
Eastern Christians. Abstaining from meat in Lent is not 
different from the abstinence commanded on other days 
of the year like Friday, the eves of the great feasts, and 
the Quater Tenses. Meat is forbidden because it is the 
food nearest like our flesh, and we can easier do without 
it. Fasting from food means that we are to practice 
self-denial by mortifying ourselves. To the Church our 
Lord left the power of imposing and of arranging the 
feasts each year. For that reason as the peoples, cus- 
toms, and ways of the world change, to them the Church 
accommodates the law of fasting. For if the Lord had 



i Alexander ab Ales., 1. iv., c. 17. 2 Tertullian, L. de Anima, c. 48. 3 Cyr. Alev. 
Adv. Jul., 1. vi., c. xix. 4 Joseph Laurent, de Prand. et Cen. Vet., c. 22. 6 Voyage 
de Perse par Chardin, t. vii. 6 Butler's Feasts and Fasts, p. 160, note. 7 St. Cyril of 
Jerusalem, Catech. iv. ; St. Basil, Horn. I, de Jejun. ; St. Chrysostom, Horn. IV., ad 
Pop. |jAntioch. ; St. Theophilus, Lit. Pasch. iii. 



192 EAELY LENTEN CUSTOMS. 

made it a strict law, when he was on earth, as no power 
can change the law of God, it might have become a great 
burden on mankind to keep a rigorous fast. For these 
reasons the bishops of the different dioceses into which 
the world is divided send forth their instructions to be 
read in the churches before Lent, and the way of keeping 
Lent may change from year to year and from century to 
century. 

In the early ages, the Christians used to fast till the 
evening, and that continued to be the way of keeping 
Lent till the ninth century. Then they began to break 
their fast at the hour of noon, corresponding to our three 
in the afternoon, as we see some of the bishops preached 
against the habit. 1 But the fervor of the people gradu- 
ally grew less. The saints were few. Eathier, bishop of 
Verona, gave the people liberty to break their fast at three 
in the afternoon. 2 We find that the bishops of the Coun- 
cil of Eouen forbade the fast to be broken till Vespers 
were begun in the church after the Office of None, 3 and 
Vespers were said at that hour, to give the people a chance 
to eat. Before that, on fasting days, they used to sing 
the Offices of the Breviary in the church, and None was 
begun at three in the afternoon, followed by Mass, 4 and 
Vespers about sundown. The people gradually began to 
break their fast before these hours, and the Offices and 
the Masses were begun earlier, so as to have Vespers at 
about noon, when the people were allowed to break their 
fast at midday. In the Xllth century the custom of break- 
ing the fast after None had become general throughout 
the world. 5 A hundred years after, that was the rule 
laid down by the great scholastic writers. 6 Still the 
people became more relax, and toward the end of the 
Xlllth century they broke their fast at the hour for the 
Office of None, that is, at noon, and in the XlVth century 
that custom became universal in the Church, 7 and was 
followed by the Pope, the Cardinals and Religious of 
both sexes. 8 Such were the ways and the manner of keep- 
ing Lent in the XVth century, as we see in the writings of 
the great masters of that age. 9 In vain St. Thomas and 

1 Theodulphus Capitul. 39 Lab. c. t. vii. 2 Ser. I. de Quad. 3 Oderie Vital, Hist., 
1. iv. 4 Gueranger, Le Careme, p. 15. 5 Hugo de S. Victor, in Rea;. S.Augustine, c. 
iii. 6 St. Thomas, in IV. Dist. xv. A. 3. Quest. 8. 7 Richard of Middletou, Durand of 
Saint-Pourcain, Bp. of Meaux. 8 Durand., in IV., Dist. xv. q. ix. A. 7. 9 Card. Caje- 
tanus, Lawrence Poncher, Antoninus, etc. 



THE ORIGIN OF THE LUNCH. 193 

others tried to stem the downward tide of discipline among 
the people. They became still more relax, and the dis- 
cipline of our days became established. They partook 
of only one meal each day. The constitution of man ap- 
peared to have become weakened. The clergy then 
allowed the people to take a little lunch in the evening. 
The origin of the lunch seems to be very old, and comes 
from the monasteries. The Eule of St. Benedict allowed 
it during a great many of the fasting days at other times 
of the year besides Lent. Among the Benedictines it was 
taken at three in the afternoon. With that custom the 
fast was not so severe, either among the religious or the 
people, who, in the days of that great Saint, fasted till 
sundown. 1 As the monks worked hard in the fields, their 
superiors, from the fourteenth of September, allowed 
them to take a little wine when the bell rung in the 
evening for the Office of Complin. When they came 
together for their wine the Abbot or the Prior said a few 
words to them, and that gathering was called the Collatio, 
from the Latin, meaning to meet together. From that 
comes our English word Collation, meaning a part of a 
meal taken on fast days. Before the IXth century the 
monks ate only one meal during Lent, but at that time 
an assembly of Religious allowed the monks to take a 
little wine during Lent. 2 In the XlVth and XVth centu- 
ries they were allowed a small piece of bread with their 
wine. That weakening of the rigorous fast of the primi- 
tive ages of Christianity, thus beginning in the monas- 
teries and in the cloisters, spread among the people, and 
it was so common in the Xlllth century that St. Thomas, 
examining the question if it breaks the fast, says that it 
does not; 3 on the contrary, he says that we can take a 
little solid food at that time. In this day they took that 
little collation at three in the afternoon. Toward the end 
of the Xlllth and the beginning of the XIYth centuries 
they began to break the fast at noon, in place of at three, 
and in the evening they began to take a few fruits or fish, 
but in such a way that it never became a second meal. 
During all these ages meat was not taken on fast days, 
only fish was allowed because of its cold nature, and be- 
cause of many deep and mysterious reasons founded on 

1 Gueranger, Le Careme, p. 17. 2 Convent. Aquisgran., c. xii.,Lab. c. t. vii. 3 In 
Quest., cxlvii. A. 6. 



194 THE PEOPLE OP PARIS. 

the Holy Bible. Milk, eggs, clieese and all such food 
called " white meats," were not allowed, and even in our 
days butter and clieese are not used in Rome during 
Lent on the days when meat is not eaten. 1 From the 
IXth century these "white meats" were used in Germany 
and many parts of the north of Europe. In the Xlth cen- 
tury the Council of Kedlimbourgh tried to dissuade the 
people from using these kinds of food, but afterwards 
the Popes granted their use from time to time. Even to 
the XYIth century, the Christians of France continued the 
old customs of the early ages in observing Lent, chang- 
ing only about the XYIItk century. As a reparation 
for the loss of the ancient discipline of the apostolic age, 
all the people of the parishes of Paris, with the Domini- 
cans, the Carmelites, the Augustinians, and the other Re- 
ligious Orders, marched in procession to the Cathedral 
of Notre Dame on Quinquagesima Sunday, and the Canons 
forming the chapter of the Cathedral, with the four 
parishes under them, went to the palace of the kings 
and sung an Anthem before the royal Court in the Sainte 
Chapelle, where a relic of the true Cross was exposed. 
Those ceremonies of the ancient church of France were 
broken up by the furies of the French Revolution. 

The permission to use " white meats " does not allow 
the eating of eggs, according to the old discipline of the 
Church, and in Rome they are not eaten except when meat 
is allowed, but a dispensation to eat them on certain days 
is granted. All this is for the spiritual good of the mem- 
bers of the Church, and when Pope Benedict XIV. saw 
the ease with which the people excused themselves from 
fasting in every part of the world, he renewed the ancient 
customs of the Church by forbidding meat and fish at the 
same meal when meat was allowed in Lent. 2 Before that 
time, in the first years of his Pontificate, he addressed an 
Encyclical Letter to all the bishops of the world, express- 
ing his sorrow at seeing Lent no more kept as in the 
early ages. "Lent is the place of our warfare, by it we 
are able to know the enemies of the cross of Jesus Christ, 
by it we turn aside the anger of the divine wrath, by it 
we are protected by heavenly aid, and during the day we 
are helped against the princes of darkness. 3 

1 Gueranger, Le Careme, p. 19. 2 Const. Benedict XIV., June 10, 1745. 3 Const. 
Non Ambigimus. 



DISPENSATIONS TO EOYALTY. 195 

Another century went by after that solemn warning of 
the head of the Church, but still the people became more 
and more relax in keeping Lent. In the Xlllth century 
the bishop of Prague informed the great Pope Innocent 
III. that the people of his diocese were obliged to eat 
meat during Lent, because a kind of famine deprived 
them of other kinds of food, asking of the Pope to be al- 
lowed the use of meat, and besides inquiring what he was 
to do regarding those who, when sick, asked to be allowed 
to eat meat. The reply of the Pontiff is full of modera- 
tion, but it shows us that the general law of Lent was 
then carried out. 1 "Wenceslas, king of Bohemia, a little 
after, considered himself by sickness unable to keep the 
Lenten fast, and he asked -to be allowed to eat meat. 
His case was examined by two abbots appointed by the 
Pope, and finding that no vows had been taken by him, 
Rome granted his request to use meat, except on Fridays, 
Saturdays, and the eve of St. Mathias, but he was to eat 
alone and with moderation. 2 In the fourteenth century Pope 
Clement YI. allowed John, king of France, to eat meat 
in Lent, because in the wars he was then engaged in, he 
could not always find fish. In another case the same 
Pope granted a like indulgence to the queen. 3 A few years 
past, and Gregory XL gave a new brief to Charles V. 
and to his queen, in which he delegated to their confes- 
sor, with the advice of their physician, the liberty of 
eating eggs and cheese in Lent. In the fifteenth century 
Sixtus IV. allowed James III., king of Scotland, the use 
of meat on fasting days, but with the advice of his con- 
fessor.* In the sixteenth century Julius II. granted the 
same to John, the king of Denmark, and to Christina, his 
queen ; 5 a few years after Clement VII. gave the same 
privilege to the Emperor Charles V. 6 and afterwards to 
Henry II. of France and Spain, as well as to his Queen 
Margaret. 7 Such was the care with which the Church 
proceeded to grant to even kings and emperors leave to 
break the law of the fast in Lent. Still the people became 
more relax in keeping the fast, and it was no wonder th at 
they became ripe for the Reformation, which soon fol- 
lowed, and plunged the north of Europe into the storms 



1 Decret. 1. iii. c. Con. ; de Jejun. tit. xlvi 2 1297. 3 Raynaldi, Ad. An., 1297. 
D'Achery, Spicil., t. iv. ° In 1505. 6 In 1524. 7 In 1533 ; Raynaldi. 



196 HUNTING WITH HAWKS. 

of division and of error in which it is laboring at 
present. 

We are tracing the history of Lent in different respects. 
Soon after the times of the Apostles, when the Roman 
empire was converted to the faith, all theatres and meet- 
ings of pleasure were forbidden by the law of the land, 
wherever the Roman power had extended. 1 In 380, Gra- 
tian 2 and Theodosius ordered the courts of law not to open 
during the time of Lent. 3 Many councils of France com- 
manded the Carlovingian kings to close their law courts 
during this holy time. 4 Many nations of the west of 
Europe keep no more that custom of closing the courts, 
but the Turks continue to close their tribunals during 
their yearly fasts. 

In the Middle Ages the larger part of Europe was cov- 
ered with great forests, and hunting was a pleasure for 
the people. Hawks were trained to take the game. But 
the noise and excitement were judged contrary to the 
spirit of penance and of fasting. For that reason, in the 
ninth century Pope Nicholas I. forbade hunting during 
Lent among the Bulgarians who had recently been con- 
verted to the faith. 5 That was not surprising, for, from 
the fourth century all military exercises were forbidden 
by Constantine on Sundays and Fridays, in honor of 
Christ's death and resurrection from the dead on these 
days, so as not to disturb the devotion of the people, for 
the early Christians devoted these days to our Lord. 6 
During the ninth century war was forbidden by the 
Church throughout the greater part of Europe during 
Lent. 7 Nothing equals the horrors of war, and for that 
reason we read in the letters of Pope Nicholas I. to the 
Bulgarians, of Gregory VII. to Didier, the Abbot, in many 
of the ancient monuments of the Church, in the Councils 
of Meaux, of Aix-la-Chapelle, and in the acts of the 
ancient Church of England, that war was forbidden dur- 
ing the whole time of Lent. War was the chief business 
of the nobles of Europe before the Church put a stop to 
the shedding of blood. 

When the barbarians of the north of Europe and from 



1 Nono canon, tit. vii:, c. 1. 2 Augustus Gratianus. 3 Cod. Theodos., 1. ix. tit- 
xxxv. 1. 4. 5 Council of Meaux in 845 ; Council of Tibur, in 895. 4 Ad Consultat- 
Bulgar. Labb., Con. t. viii. > 6 Eusebius, Const. Vita, 1. iv. c. xviii. et xix. 7 Lab. Con- 
il., t. vii. 



THE TEUCE OF GOD. 197 

the west of Asia came down and destroyed the Eoman 
Empire, when no more peoples remained to be overcome, 
each chief rested in the valleys and in the fertile plains 
which they subdued, and there they built their castles. 
The soldiers became their vassals, while they and their 
children became the lords and the aristocrats of Europe. 
From that came the nobility and the common people of 
ancient times. From that comes the landlords and the 
tenants of our days. Each lord and nobleman in his 
castle was at war with his neighbors. For that reason 
each castle was built like a fort. Great was the work of 
the Church to keep peace between them and to put a stop 
to the widows' woe, to the orphans' wail, to the cry of 
the wounded and to the groan of the dying. At length 
she succeeded in the eleventh century, by the celebrated 
" Truce of God," 1 in stopping all battles for four days of 
the week, from Wednesday evening till Monday morning, 
during the whole year. That agreement among the people 
of the Middle Ages was sanctioned by many Councils 
and Popes. It was but an extension of the rule laid 
down generations before by the Church, forbidding fight- 
ing during Lent. St. Edward the Confessor, king of 
England, made a law which was confirmed by William the 
Conqueror, and by which the Truce of God was extended 
so that war was never carried on from the beginning of 
Advent to the Octave of Easter, from Ascension Thursday 
to the Octave of Pentecost, nor during the four Quater 
Tenses of the year. 2 

In 1095, Pope Urban II., with wisdom laid down the 
rules relating to the Crusade for the recovery of the Holy 
Sepulchre, to break the power of the Turks and the false 
religion of Mohammed, which was threatening ' Europe 
with war and carnage. He used his authority to extend 
the " Truce of God " by forbidding fighting during Lent. 
One of his decrees was confirmed a year later by the 
Council of Kouen. It was that all acts of war must stop 
from Ash Wednesday till the Monday following the Oc- 
tave of Pentecost, on all feasts of the Blessed Virgin, of 
the Apostles 3 and during the latter part of the week as 
given before. 4 Tims all Christian nations showed their 



1 Cardinal Wiseman's Holy Week, p. 174. 2 Lab. Concil., t, ix, 3 Gueranger, Le 
Careme, p. 29. 4 Orderic Vital Hist..EccL, 1. ix, 



198 REGULATIONS OF LENT. 

respect for the holy time of Lent during the Middle 
Ages. 

Among the Greeks and the nations of the west of Asia, 
on Septuagesima Sunday they published the rules and 
regulations of Lent. From the following Monday they 
use no meat, but eat what they call " White Meats," as 
eggs, cheese, butter and things of that kind, while on the 
Monday before Ash Wednesday, their Lent begins with 
all its rigors. From that time they eat neither meat, 
eggs, cheese or even fish. The only things allowed are 
bread, fruits, honey, and for those who live near the sea, 
shell-fish. Wine, for a long time forbidden, is drank no 
more among them. 

Besides their great Lent, as among us, their prepara- 
tion for the grand solemnities of the Easter Time, they 
keep three other Lents during the year. One, called the 
Apostles' Lent, begins at the Octave of Pentecost and lasts 
till the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, the other, called the 
Virgin Mary's Lent, begins on the first of August and 
ends on the eve of the Assumption, 1 and the third begins 
forty days before Christmas, and lasts till the birth of 
our Lord. The fasting, penance and self-denial of the 
people of the East, during these three seasons of penance, 
are like those of Lent — severe and rigorous, and are kept 
by them like the times of fasting and of prayer kept by 
the early Christians in the days of the Apostles. 2 

Lent is filled with mystery. During the Septuagesima 
Time the number seventy recalls to our minds the sev- 
enty years of the captivity of the Jews in Babylon, where, 
after having purified themselves from their sins by pen- 
ance, they returned again to their country and to their 
city of Jerusalem, then they celebrated their Easter. Now 
the holy Church, our Mother, brings before our minds the 
severe and mysterious number forty, that number which, 
as St. Jerome says, is always filled with self-denial and 
with penance. 3 

When the race became corrupt, God wiped out the sin 
of man by the rain of forty days and forty nights upon 
the world, but after forty days Noah opened a window in 
the ark and found the water gone from the earth. When 
the Hebrews were called from the land of Egypt for forty 

? 14th of August. 2 Gueranger, Le Careme, p. 32. 3 In Ezech., c. xxix. 



CHEIST LED BY THE HOLY GHOST. 199 

years they fastecl on manna, wandering in the desert, be- 
fore they came to the promised land. When Moses went 
up the Mount of Sinai, for forty days and nights he fasted 
from food before he received the law graven on tablets of 
stone. When Elias came near to God, on Horeb, for 
forty days and nights he fasted. 1 Thus these two, the 
greatest men of old, whom the hand of the Lord hath 
raised up to do his mighty will, Moses on Mount Sinai, 
Elias on Mount Horeb, what do they figure but the law 
and the prophecy of the Old Testament pointing to the 
fast of forty days and nights of our Lord in the desert ? 
Like shadowy forms they prefigured the Son of God, who 
first established Lent when the Christians, his disciples, 
fast, following the example of our Master, when they keep 
the Lenten Services of the Church. 

Let us follow our Lord in his Lent in the desert. " At 
that time," 2 sa}^s the Gospel. When? The moment after 
his baptism, to show that the Christian after baptism must 
prepare for a life of self denial. When ? Thirty years 
before, on the same day, the three Magi adored him, a 
little child in the manger. When? One year from that 
day, at his mother's request, he changed the water into 
wine. At that time, by contact with his most holy body, 
the waters of the earth received the power of washing the 
souls of men from sin in baptism. St. John the Baptist 
had preached penance from the banks of the Jordan. 
Now Christ was to preach penance from the sands of the 
desert. John had lived in fasting on locusts and wild 
honey from his twelfth year. 3 He alone was worthy of 
baptizing our Lord. Now Christ is led by the Spirit into 
the desert. By what spirit ? By the Holy Spirit, to 
show that those who fast and do penance during Lent 
are led by the Holy Ghost. To show that the Church 
was led by the Holy Ghost in commanding all her children 
to fast during Lent. Into the desert he is led by the 
Holy Spirit, with the burning sun of Judea above his 
head by day, and the parched sands beneath his limbs 
by night; into the "desert he is led, where the hot air 
burns his hallowed cheek, and the burning sands give way 
beneath his feet ; into the desert he is led, where below 
him stretches the Dead Sea, beneath whose stagnant, 

J S. Aug. Sermo OCX. in Quadragesima, n. 9. 2 Ev. 1. D. q. inMissale. 3 Math. iii. 4. 



200 WHEEE CHEIST FASTED. _ 

slimy waters lie the remains of Sodom, Gomorrah, Salem 
and the cities of the plains destroyed by God for their 
sins. " Here comes our Lord to do penance and to fast for 
the sins of mankind. Here comes our Saviour to keep 
the first Lent. 

Not far from the banks of the Jordan rises a mountain 
harsh and savage in its outlines, which tradition calls the 
Lenten mountain. 1 From its rugged heights flow down 
the streams which water the plains of Jericho. From its 
rocky sides is seen the valley of the Dead Sea. From its 
inhospitable crags stretches out the gloomy expanse of that 
spot where once the five smiling cities of the plains sat 
amid the fertile land, but now, of all places of the earth, 
marked with the curse of God for the sins of Sodom and 
Gomorrah. There came the Son of God to establish 
Lent. There came the Saviour to show by penance how 
to gain our everlasting crown by fasting for our sins. 
There, deep amid the desert fastness, in a cave formed 
by the ancient upheaval of the mountain, there he found 
a home. There he fasted forty days and forty nights. 
No water cooled his burning tongue, no food repaired his 
weakening strength. The wild beasts of the wilderness 
were his companions. The heat of the simoon from the 
burning desert poisoned the air he breathed. The hot 
sands burned his feet. The rocks became his bed. Such 
was the beginning of the Christian Lent. 

"After he had fasted forty days and forty nights, after- 
wards he was hungry ;" for his nature was human, like ours. 
"And the tempter came." He prepared himself for temp- 
tation by fasting, to show us that we must prepare our- 
selves by fasting for the temptations of this life, to show 
that by fasting and by penance we are to overcome 
the enemies of our salvation. He was not hungry till at 
the end of his forty days of fasting, to show that he was God, 
for no one can fast for that time without being hungry. 
At the end of forty days he was hungry, to show that he 
was man, with all the weakness of our nature. Our 
nature had been badly hurt by Adam eating the forbid- 
den fruit. Christ came to restore our nature to its lost 
inheritance in heaven, and he begins his public life by 
fasting. And now, at the end of that fast, the devil, who 

1 Gueranger, Le Careme, p. 46. 



THE DEVIL TEMPTS CHEIST. 201 

was the cause of our fall, found him weak and hungry. 
He came to tempt him in the desert, as he came to tempt 
our first parents in the garden. Let us draw near and 
see the temptation of our Lord. 

The devil had seen him baptize in the Jordan, he had 
heard the words of the holy Baptist point him out as the 
"Lamb of God." He had heard the words of the Father 
in heaven call him his beloved Son. He had seen the 
Holy Spirit in the form of a dove, with outspread wings 
overshadow him. He says to himself, " Can this be the 
Son of God, this weak and hungry man?" The demon is 
in doubt. He comes near to the person of Jesus Christ. 
He could not enter into his members as he can in ours, 
and tempt him. He could only tempt him from without, 
as he tempted our first parents from without. Com- 
ing near, he says, " If thou be the Son of God, command 
these stones to be made bread." Mark well the words. 
It is a temptation of pride. "If thou be the Son of God," 
here is a chance to show your power. Long before the 
same demon came to our Mother Eve, and said, " In what 
day soever you shall eat thereof .... you shall be as 
gods." The temptation of pride. Thus he was tempted 
by being asked to eat/ like our parents in the garden. 
Thus he was tempted by pride, as our mother Eve was 
tempted of old. 1 

This life is a continual battle against temptation, and 
the Church, made up of the clergy and of the people, is 
like a great and powerful army in ceaseless battle array 
against our enemies. For that reason Lent is called the 
fighting time of the Church. For that reason, in the offices 
of the breviary we say the psalms, wherein is recalled 
that battle of the Christian against his old enemies, the 
powers of hell. 

We are coming near to the sad sight of the death of 
our Lord. We are to see that rage of the Jews against 
him which ended by his death on the cross. The Church 
prepares us beforehand, by celebrating certain feasts on 
each of the Fridays of Lent, which are like so many 
preparations for the tragedy of Good Friday. The Fri- 
day following the first Sunday of Lent we celebrate the 
memory of the holy Lance and Nails which pierced his 

1 Fabri, Condones, 1. 1. Dom. I. Quad. con. XI. 



202 THE PUBLIC PENITENTS. i- 

sacred flesh ; or, in some cases, the feast of the Crown of 
Thorns he wore upon his head. The Friday of the second 
week we say the office of the Linens, which Joseph and 
Nicodemus wrapped around his body when dead and laid 
in the tomb. On the third Friday we commemorate the 
memory of the five Wounds of our Lord ; while the offices 
of the fourth Friday are devoted to the memory .of the 
most precious Blood shed for our redemption. 1 

During the early ages of the Church, Lent was the 
time when the catechumens, that is, the newly converted 
Christians, prepared for baptism by fasting and by pen- 
ance, before they were washed from their sins by the 
waters of regeneration on Holy Saturday. For many 
months they had been instructed for that holy rite by the 
saints of old, and in the Lenten Season they redoubled 
their penance and their prayers. 

Again, Lent was the time when the public penitents, 
those who were guilty of great sins, purged themselves 
from their crimes by public penance. From Ash Wednes- 
day, when they were driven from the church, like Adam 
from Paradise, in sackcloth and in ashes, in tears and in 
fasting, they wept at the doors of the churches, till re- 
ceived again into the bosom of their mother, the Church, 
by confession and Communion on Holy Thursday. Be- 
cause the people are no more saints like those of the 
early ages, although the Church in her motherly indul- 
gence has changed these laws, still their traces are found 
in the ceremonies and the services of the Latin Bite. 

To forever keep to the traditions of the Apostles, and 
to preserve Lent as a time of penance and of sorrow for 
sin, the Church has never easily allowed the feasts of the 
saints to be celebrated during this holy time. In our 
days, but a few months ago, Pope Leo XIII. changed 
many of the offices of the saints during Lent, so that 
from the year 1884 Lent will have more ferial offices than 
before. 2 That is but coming back to the ancient times, 
when most of the offices of the year were simple ferials, 
before there were so many saints to celebrate their feasts. 
In the fourth century the council of Laodicea would not 
allow any feast to be celebrated or the remembrance of a 
saint to be made in the offices, except on Saturdays and 

1 Brev. Rom. Of. pro Aliq. Locis. 2 Brief of Leo XIII. , July, 1883. 



THE MASS OF THE PRESANCTIFIED. 203 

Sundays. 1 The Greek Church, for many ages, kept the 
same rule, and it was only after the lapse of time that 
they celebrated the feast of the Annunciation on the 25th 
of March. The members of the Latin Rite kept that cus- 
tom for a long time, but finally allowed the feast of the 
Annunciation to be held on the 25th of March, and at 
length the feast of St. Matthew, on the 24th of February. 
In later times, some saints' feasts were allowed in Lent, 
but always with great care, because a feast is a day of 
joy and of gladness, which would break in upon the sol- 
emn, penitential time of Lent. For that reason the 
Greeks and the followers of the Eastern rites believe that 
no feast can be rightly held during a time of fasting and 
of penance, while the followers of the Latin Rite think 
the contrary, and allow certain feasts of great importance 
to be celebrated. For these reasons, Saturday among 
the Greeks is never a fasting day, nor do they fast the 
day of the Annunciation, as they celebrate it as a great 
feast. 

These customs of the East gave rise, in the seventh 
century, in the Western Church, to the ceremony of the 
Mass of the Presanctified. Each Sunday during Lent, 
a priest of the Eastern Rites consecrated six Hosts, 
only one of which was consumed by him at the Sunday 
Mass; the five others were kept for the five following days 
of the week, when they went through the ceremonies of 
the Mass without consecrating again till the next Sunday, 
taking the Host during the week days as a simple Com- 
munion. In the Latin Rite, we have that ceremony once 
each year, on Good Friday, 2 which will be explained in 
its proper place. That manner of saying Mass by the 
Greeks during Lent appears to have come from the 
Council of Laodicea, 3 which commanded the holy sacri- 
fice not to be offered in Lent, except on Saturdays and 
Sundays. In the following ages the Greeks concluded 
that Mass breaks the fast, as we see from their dispute 
with the Legate Humbert. 4 In the evening after Vespers 
they celebrate that Rite, and then the priest who cele- 
brates alone receives the Holy Communion as among us 
on Good Friday. The only exception they have is on the 



i Concil. Laod., Cant. li. 2 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 13. 3 C. xlix., held in 314, 
4 Con. Nicetam. , t. iv. 



204 THE ALTAR VEILED. 

day of the Annunciation, when all the people may re- 
ceive. 

The rule"t>f the Council of Laodicea was never received 
in the Western Church where the Latin Rite prevails, 
following Rome where it is carried out in all its purity, 
except in the early ages, on Holy Thursday. In the 
eighth century Pope Gregory II., wishing to complete 
the Roman Sacramentary, added the Masses said during 
the first five weeks of Lent. 1 It is hard to give a reason 
why they did not say Mass in the first ages after the 
Apostles on Holy Thursday, or why in the churches of 
Milan, where they follow the Ambrosian Rite, they say 
no Mass on the Fridays of Lent. The best reason ap- 
pears to be because our Lord said the first Mass at the 
last supper on Thursday and died on Friday, and out of 
respect for him they would not offer the august sacrifice 
on these days. 

In the middle ages, from the most early times they 
used to draw a veil before the altar during the most 
solemn parts of the Mass. That custom ceased long ago; 
but during Lent, in Notre Dame, of Paris, and in many 
Churches of Europe, they veil the altar from the view of 
the clergy and the people, no one but the celebrant and 
the servers seeing the ceremonies taking place behind 
that violet veil. The violet color signifies penance, into 
which the whole Church is plunged during this holy time. 
It typifies the penance and the fasting of sorrowful souls, 
by self-denial, satisfying God for sin ; it recalls the deep 
humiliations of our Lord in his passion, which like a 
veil was drawn aside when he rose glorious and immortal 
from the grave ; it represents the veil of the temple shut- 
ting off the Holy of Holies, of the temple of Jerusalem 
rent by the hands of angels when the Redeemer died on 
Calvary's cross for our salvation. 2 Also in the early ages 
they used to form into great processions during Lent, and 
to march from one church to the others, especially on 
Wednesdays and Fridays, walking in their bare feet "in 
the monasteries and convents, thus imitating the proces- 
sions of Rome, which were daily seen for many centuries, 
and which gave rise to the Stations of the Titles of the 
Missal. They increased their prayers during this time of 

i Anastas. in Greg. II. 2 Honorius, Gem. Animae, 1. iii., c. lxvi. 




Cathedral of Mayence. 



206 THE WANDERING ISRAELITES. 

penance, and for that reason they added to the usual 
prayers of the Breviary on Mondays the Offices of the 
dead, on Wednesdays the Gradual Psalms, and on Fridays 
the Penitential Psalms. In the churches of Prance during 
the week they added the whole 150 psalms to the ordinary 
Office. 1 

I. — The First Sunday of Lent. 

We have now come to the first Sunday of Lent, the 
most solemn of all the Sundays of the year. 2 Like on 
Passion Sunday and on Palm Sunday, no other feast can 
be celebrated on this day; not even the feast of the 
Patron Saint of the church, or the Office of its Dedica- 
tion. It is called the Fifth Sunday 3 because it is the 
fifth Sunday before Easter. It is called Brand Sunday, 
because in the middle ages the youths who had given 
themselves up to the dissipations of the carnivals, used 
to come on this Sunday to the doors of the churches 
with lighted tapers in their hands, as a sign of public 
penance for their sins. 4 It is called "Invocabit," from 
the first word of the Introit. 

From to-day to Easter there are 42 days, but our 
Lent of 40 days, beginning on Ash Wednesday, ends on 
the evening of Holy Saturday; and taking out the Sun- 
days, which are not fasting days, we fast for forty days 
which make up the Lent, which brings us to the glories 
of the Easter Season. These 40 days of Lent are pre- 
figured by the Children of Israel wandering in the des- 
ert, fasting on manna, and resting at forty stations. As 
they were led by Josue into the promised land, so we 
are led by Jesus, into heaven — by that Lord who came to 
us by the forty generations descending from our father, 
Adam. 5 We fast then for forty days, as St. Augustine 
says, because St. Matthew gives the forty generations of 
our Lord that by the number forty we might go up to 
him 6 who for forty days remained with his disciples after 
his resurrection from the dead. 

Although the Greeks are against celebrating any feast 
during Lent, yet on the first Sunday of Lent they have 

1 Martine, De Antiq. Eccl. Rit., t. iii., c. xviii. 2 Gueranger le Careme, p. 145. 
8 Durand. Rationale. Div. L. vi., c. xxxii., n. 1. 4 Gueranger le Careme, p. 145, 
5 Durand. Rationale, Div. L, vi., c. xxx., n. 1. 6 De Consecrat. Dist., Y. Jejun. 



THE MOTHER OF ALL CHURCHES. 207 

one of their greatest solemnities, when they hold their 
services in memory of the restoring of the holy images 
in Constantinople and in all the Empire of the East, by 
the Empress Theodora and the great Archbishop Me- 
thodius in 842, after they had been destroyed by the 
rage of the image breakers, during the religious persecu- 
tions which had taken place some time before. 

The title of the Mass is "The Station at St. John 
Lateran," the Basilica of the Saviour, the ancient resi- 
dence of the Eoman Emperors, the old* Church of Pope 
Silvester, "The Lateran Church the Mother and the 
Mistress of all the churches of Kome and of the world." 1 
There the Mass of the first Sunday of Lent is said. 
There the people of Rome gather at the divine services. 
There the public penitents were reconciled on Holy 
Thursday. There, in Constantine's Baptistery, the cate- 
chumens were baptized on Holy Saturday. There the 
fast of Lent was announced so many times by the great 
Popes SS. Gregory the Great and Leo the Great. 

The Introit is taken from the XC. Psalm, which alone 
forms the parts sung during the Mass. Its sacred words 
breathe faith and hope for the Christian soul. 

The Epistle is taken from St. Paul to the Corinthians, 2 
and contains the most beautiful advice directing us how 
to keep the Lent. 

The Gradual and the Tract are taken entirely from 
Psalm XC, and would be too long to give here. 

The Gospel comes from St. Matthew, 3 and tells us how 
our Lord was led by the Holy Spirit 4 into the desert to 
spend his Lent, and how he was there tempted. 

Each Sunday of the year offers us a subject taken from 
the life of our Lord, on which we are to meditate, but 
the Sundays of Lent above all set before us the most 
vivid scenes from his life. The first Sunday of Lent we 
are. called to contemplate him tempted by the devil. 
We are all tempted, and our Lord, who came to save us, 
came also to show us how to resist temptation, 5 for he 
was " one tempted in all things like as we are, without 
sin." 6 The ineffable mystery of the Incarnation had 
been kept secret from the devil. For that reason Mary 

1 Inscription on the Church of St. John Lateran. 2 II. Cor. vi. 3 Matt. iv. 1. 

* Fahri Conciones, Dom. 1, Quad, cxi., n. 112. 5 Fabri Con., Dom. 1, Quad. c. 1, n. 111. 

* Heb. iv, 15, 



208 Christ's temptation. 

was espoused to Joseph 1 to conceal the birth from the 
devil. The tempter approaches the Lord and tempts 
him to change the stones into bread, so as to satisfy his 
hunger. With the simplicity and the majesty of the 
Saint of Saints, he resists the temptation. It was a 
temptation to satisfy the appetites of our nature. The 
demon then took him in his foul hands, and placed him 
on the highest pinnacle of the holy temple in Jerusalem, 
and told him to throw himself down and let the people 
see him borne up* by angels' hands. With the words of 
holy Moses he resisted. 2 It was a temptation of pride. 
Again the Leader of the fallen Angels carries him to the 
top of a high mountain, and showed him all the king- 
doms of the earth and the glories of this world, and says 
he will give him all these if, "falling on his knees, he would 
adore him." Again with the words of Moses, " The Lord 
thy God thou shalt adore," 3 he repels the arch tempter. 4 
Finding that he cannot lead our Lord into sin, he leaves 
him. 

Mark well these three kinds of temptations. The 
first attack was like the one the devil made upon our first 
parents in the garden. The second was like the tempta- 
tions of all the race of Adam. The third was like the 
temptation of all those in high places and in power. The 
first was a temptation of our lower appetites, the pleas- 
ures of the senses ; the second was a temptation of the 
soul, the sin of pride ; while the third was a temptation 
to be great. The love of the things of this world, carnal 
pleasures, worldly pride, ambition — these are the poi- 
soned sources from which spring forth all the sins of 
mankind, the temptations of our fallen nature, as the 
Apostle says, " All that is in the world is the concupis- 
cence of the flesh and the concupiscence of the eyes and 
the pride of life." 5 The world, the devil and the flesh, 
these are the fountains of all the sins of man, and in 
the Gospel of this, the first Sunday of Lent, we read this 
part of the Gospel to warn the people against temptation. 

Each week day during Lent there is a special Mass of 
the day, for the days of this holy time are of such im- 
portance, that, like the feasts of the year, they have their 



1 St. Ignatius cited by St. Jerome, ? Deut. vi. 16. » Matt. iy. 10. 4 Deut. vi, 
13. 5 I. John ii. 16. 



FOLLOWING MOSES AND ELIAS. 209 

Masses, and in the Office we always make a remembrance 
of them when we celebrate any other feast. 

The title of the Mass of the Monday following the 
first Sunday in Lent is, "The Station at St. Peter in 
Chains." That is, in Rome, the services are held in the 
church built in the fifth century by the Empress Eudoxia, 
wife of Yalentinian 1 III. There are guarded with jealous 
care the chains with which St. Peter was bound, first in 
Jerusalem and again in Rome. 

The title of the Mass said on Tuesday is " The Sta- 
tion at St. Anastasia." It is the church where the Mass 
at the aurora hour is offered upon Christmas morning. 

To the Lenten fast comes now the fast of the Quater 
Tenses of spring. On Wednesday, Friday and Saturday 
of this week we will have a double reason to fast, be- 
cause of the law of Lent and of the law of the Ember 
days or Quater Tenses. In the early ages, till the 
eleventh century, the Ember days were celebrated the 
first week of March, and those of summer on the second 
week of June. But by a decree of Gregory VII. they 
were fixed at the times of the year we celebrate them 
now ; that is, the Ember days of spring during the first 
week of Lent, the Ember days of summer during the 
week following Pentecost Sunday, the Ember days of 
autumn following the 14th of September, and the Ember 
days of Winter in the third week of Advent. The title 
of the Mass on Wednesday of this week is, " The Station 
at St. Mary Major, the august temple built in ancient 
times to the honor of the Mother of God. In the Offices 
of the Breviary to-day, the Church offers us the example 
of Moses and Elias fasting for forty days in order to dig- 
nify the Christian Lent, and to show the law and the 
prophecy of the Old Testament, represented by these great 
men of old, who fasted, and that we must follow them, 
our fathers, in the faith. To-day the Greeks chant a 
grand and beautiful hymn in praise of fasting, called 
Triodion. 

The title of the Mass on Thursday is " The Station at 
St. Lawrence in Paneperna," one of these great churches 
raised by the piety of the people of Rome in ancient 
times to the honor of the great St. Lawrence. In the 

1 Placidius Valentinian, born in 419, assassinated in 455, 



210 WHY NATIONS PEEISH. 

Offices of the Breviary to-day, we find the words of the 
Lord to his prophet, Ezechiel, 1 foretelling the mercy of 
God to the Gentiles throughout the world converted to 
the church and doing penance after their baptism. The 
Gothic Missal has some beautiful poetic pieces relating 
to this time of the year. 

The title of the Mass on Friday is " The Station at the 
Holy Twelve Apostles," one of the most beautiful of the 
grand Basilicas of Borne, where are preserved the bodies 
of the Apostles, SS. Philip and James the Less. Again, to- 
day we read the prophecy of Ezechiel, 2 where God speaks 
of sin, saying that the one who commits any sin shall die 
and shall not live, but if he do penance and cease from 
sin he shall live. The death here spoken of is the death 
of the soul by being deprived of the grace of God, which 
is its life. In the services of the Greek church are found 
some beautiful sentiments relating to prayer and self de- 
nial during this time. 

The title of the Mass on Saturday is u The Station at 
St. Peter's," that is, the services of this day are held in 
the noblest building raised by the hand of man to the 
worship of Almighty God, St. Peter's at Borne. The 
lessons of the Breviary 3 tell us that the nation which will 
be faithful in keeping the law of God will be blessed, and 
we find that no nations of old left the worship of the Lord 
but they perished. The old Missal of Cluny has a sweet 
poetic piece to the Virgin Mary said on Saturday of the 
first week of Lent. 

II. — The Second Sunday of Lent. 

In former times this Sunday was called the " Vacent," 
because it had no service which belonged to it. The 
Quater Tenses or Ember days were celebrated the week 
before, and as then the church from the earliest times 
ordained her clergy, the people spent the week in prayer, 
asking God to give them good and holy priests. The 
ceremony of ordination began on Saturday and lasted 
long into the small hours of the morning. Then they 
celebrated the Mass of ordination, which became the 
Sunday service, 4 or, as a writer of the twelfth century 

1 c. xviii. 2 c. xviii. 3 Dent. c. xxvi. 4 75 Dist, Quod apatribus. Extra, de 
Temp. Ord. Liter as. 



CHRIST TRANSFIGURED. 211 

says, they used to repeat the services of the preceding 
Wednesday. 1 All was carried out in the church without 
the sound of the organ or other musical instruments, for 
as it is the fifth. Sunday from Septuagesima, it repre- 
sented the Jews on the banks of the rivers of Babylon 
hanging their harps on the willows and weeping to re- 
turn to Jerusalem, a type of the children of the church 
sorrowing for their sins, and weeping to be taken to the 
Lord their God in heaven. 

The second Sunday of Lent is called " Keminiscere," 
from the first word of the Introit. It is called the Sun- 
day of the Transfiguration, because to-day we celebrate 
the glories of the Son of God, transfigured on the mount 
Tabor. 2 

Leaving Galilee to go up to Jerusalem for the last 
time to celebrate the Passover, Jesus came to a mountain 
midway between Nazareth and Tiberida. It was Tabor, 
a spur of Libanus. It was the night of the 6th of August, 
in the 33d year of his age, and the third of his public 
life, that Jesus, taking with him Peter, James and John, 
ascended the mountain to pray. He took with him three 
to be witnesses of the glories of his Divinity, 3 for, " in 
the mouth of two or three witnesses every word shall 
stand."* He took only three, as he wished to keep the 
mystery secret till after his death, as he said: " Tell the 
vision to no man till the Son of Man be risen." 5 He chose 
Peter, James and John, the three who witnessed the 
glories of his transfiguration on Tabor's heights, which 
proved him God, the three who witnessed the wretched- 
ness of his sorrows in the garden of Gethsemena, 6 which 
showed him to be a man. These three fell asleep and 
woke to find Jesus surrounded by the majesty of heaven. 
Who are the witnesses of these glories? Peter, the 
Prince of the Apostles, the future Bishop of Home, the 
first Pope who was to grasp the crown from the very 
brow of the Caesars, and from the eternal city, Borne, to 
illuminate the world by their infallible doctrine. Peter 
was the first witness. James was the second, James, the 
brother of John, the model of mortification, the first 
Bishop of Jerusalem, the first of the Apostles who died 



1 Durand, Rationale Div., L. vi., c. xxxix., n. 1. 2 Annee Lit., p. 80. 3 S. Leonis, 
Horn, de Transfig. Dom. 4 Deut. xix. 15. 5 Matt. xvii. 9. 6 Matt. xxvi. 37, 



212 THE TRANSFIGURATION EXPLAINED. 

a martyr's death, the first to follow his master to martyr- 
dom — James was the second witness. Behold the third. 
Isaias, looking dimly through the mists of coming ages, 
sees the glories of the Son of God generated from the 
Father before all ages, and knowing that to understand 
the generation of the Second Person of the Trinity is be- 
yond the grasp of created minds, Isaias cries out : " Who 
shall declare his generation?" 1 Who can describe the 
generation of the Son of God, the Splendor of the Father, 
the Figure of his substance, the Glory of his majesty ? O, 
yes ! there is one holy prophet, John, enlightened by the 
Holy Ghost, who declares his generation when bursting 
forth in these sublime words : " In the beginning was the 
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was 
God." 2 Moses, illuminated by the same Inspiring Spirit, 
goes back to the commencement of time and declares the 
creation of the world. "In the beginning God created 
heaven and earth." 3 St. John goes beyond him, soars 
higher like the eagle, goes to the beginning of eternity, 
and gives the generation of the Word, of Jesus, Son of 
God, coming forth from the bosom of his Father. But 
that is not all ; with the eyes of prophecy he penetrates 
the future and reveals to us the things which will come 
to pass hereafter in his revelations in the Book of the 
Apocalypse. Behold the third witness of the transfigura- 
tion, St. John, the first Bishop of Ephesus. The whole 
church is there represented. Her authority and suprem- 
acy in St. Peter, the constancy and fortitude of her mar- 
tyrs in St. James, her charity and learning in St. John. 

And while Jesus prayed, "his face did shine as the 
sun, and his garments became white as snow." 4 The 
glory of his Divinity within his human nature shone 
forth from his whole person, and lightened up his sacred 
form so as to far exceed the brightness of the noonday 
sun. And while this took place behold, there appeared 
Moses and Elias. Each fasted forty days to prefigure 
our Lent. Moses, who received the Law from the hands 
of God on Sinai's summit; Elias, who rode on the fire 
chariot of the Lord of hosts. Why are they there? 
Moses represents the Law of the Old Testament ; Elias 
typifies the Prophecy of the Old Testament. The Law 

liii. 8. 2 John i. 1. 3 Gen. i. 1. 4 Matt. xvii. 1. 



THE GREATEST MEETING^. 213 

and the Prophecy related to Christ. They prepared 
the way for his coming. They gave testimony that he 
was to be the Son of God. But they were like dead 
letters. They were not understood by the Jews. But 
because there is a charm in the living voice, there is 
a spell in the flash of the eye, when eloquent words are 
added to convince the soul of man. Thus it was that the 
two greatest men of old came to point out our Lord. 
Moses, whom no one saw die, Elias, who ascended into 
heaven — with eloquent tongues and heavenly forms they 
come to the side of Jesus. These two, without doubt the 
greatest ones of old, whom the strong hand of the Lord 
hath raised up to show forth his power — these come, and 
like shadowy forms they stand and proclaim the greater 
power and majesty of the Son of God on Tabor's heights. 
With living words they seem to say by their presence, 
that the Law and the Prophecy are now sealed up, and 
that all that they foretold are now to be fulfilled in Jesus 
of Nazareth. 

But behold a cloud overshadows them. What is it ? 
No one can control a cloud. This cloud is bright and 
luminous. What does it signify ? It is the Holy Ghost, 
who before overshadowed the Virgin 1 when she con- 
ceived and brought forth the Son of God, as foretold by 
the prophet. It is the Holy Ghost, who wrapped the 
mountain in its misty form when the law was given to 
Moses on Sinai's top. It is the Holy Spirit, who came in 
the form of a little cloud to Elias on the mount. 2 From 
out of the cloud came forth the words : " This is my be- 
loved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye him." 3 
It is the voice of the eternal Father in heaven, proclaim- 
ing the Divinity of his Son. 4 

Behold the greatest and the grandest meeting earth 
ever witnessed. Moses and Elias, the greatest men of 
the Old Testament ; Peter, James and John, the three 
greatest men of the New Testament; The Father, Son 
and Holy Ghost, the three persons of the most holy 
Trinity — all these are there. What are they talking of ? 
Of the greatest scene ever witnessed on this earth — 'the 
death of Jesus on Calvary's cross for the salvation of 
mankind. 5 Such is the mystery the church celebrates 
to-day in her services and ceremonies. 

1 Luke i. 35. 2 III. Kings xviii. 44. 3 Math. xvii. 5. 4 Pope Leo, Horn, de Transfig. 
Dom. & Luke ix. 31. 



4 214 THE SECOND WEEK OE LENT. 

But let us continue on and see how each year the 
church prepares the people to celebrate the awful death 
spoken of at the mystery of the transfiguration of our 
Lord. 

The title of the Mass of the second Sunday of Lent is 
" The Station at St. Mary's in Dominica ; " that is, the ser- 
vices are held in the church of that name on the Cselian 
hill in Rome, where, as an ancient tradition tells us, St. 
Lawrence gave charity to the poor, and to tell the people 
that we must give to the poor as well as do penance dur- 
ing Lent. 

The Epistle is taken from St. Paul to the Thessalonians, 1 
where he tells them how to live so as to be good Chris- 
tians. 

Monday of the second week of Lent, the Station where 
the Mass is said, is in the Church of St. Clement, a Pope 
and martyr. Of all the churches of Eome it still pre- 
serves its peculiar character of antiquity. Under its 
altar reposes the body of its Patron St. Clement, with 
those of the holy martyr St. Ignatius of Antioch, and of 
the Consilar Flavius Clemens. 

On Tuesday the Station where the services are held 
is at the Church of St. Balbina, a Roman virgin, the 
daughter of Quirinus the Tribune, who in the third cen- 
tury suffered martyrdom during the Pontificate of Pope 
Alexander. 

The Station on Wednesday is in the great Church of 
St. Cecilia, one of the most venerable and august tem- 
ples of Eome, built on the spot where once stood the 
house of the illustrious virgin and martyr, Cecilia, the 
Queen and the Patron of church music. Under its main 
altar rest the bodies of SS. Cecilia, Tibure, Maxim, and 
of the martyred Popes Urban and Lucius. 

The services of Thursday are held in the celebrated 
Church St. Mary's, beyond the Tiber, the first church 
consecrated to the Mother of God in the second century, 
during the reign of Pope Calistus. 

The Station of Friday is at the Church of St. Vital, a 
martyr, and the father of the illustrious martyred soldiers 
Gervas and Protas. 

On Saturday the Station is in the Church of Peter and 

1 C. iv. 1 to 7. 



THE POWER OF DEVILS. 215 

Marcellin, martyrs, who suffered during the persecution 
of Dioclesian, and whose names are found in the Canon 
of the Mass. 

III. — The Thied Sunday of Lent. 

This Sunday is called " My Eyes," from the first words 
with which it begins. Again it is called " Ballot Sun- 
day," because in old times they used to vote for those 
whom they baptized on Holy Saturday, when all the 
people gathered in the church in former times to see 
them washed in the saving waters of redemption. The 
Boman Sacramentary of Pope Gelasius 1 gives the words 
by which they were called to the ceremony. The names 
of those who were found worthy of being baptized were 
written on tablets on the side of the altar. 

To-day we celebrate the memory of our Lord with his 
mighty power driving out the demons from the dumb 
man. 2 Before the death of our Lord the devils had 
great power. They overcame man in our first parents, 
and as they conquered Adam, the king of the world, 
they had the whole world, his kingdom, under their con- 
trol. They took possession of the idols of the pagans, 
and received the adorations of all ancient peoples. They 
entered into man, and taking possession of his body and 
soul, caused disease and plagues. They worked in every 
way to destroy the beauties of God's works in this world 
before their power was broken by our Lord and by his 
church. Each clergyman in his ordination receives the 
power to overcome them and to drive them out. 3 For 
that reason all things used in the services of our holy 
religion are blessed by the clergy, to drive away all 
diabolical influence and to take away the curse which 
God spoke to Adam after his sin. 4 The Old Testament 
tells of the demon who tried to destroy Tobias, 5 and who 
was bound by the Archangel in Upper Egypt. The 
New Testament speaks of the devil bound by another 
Archangel in the same place. 6 Many are the examples 
given in holy writ of the evil works of these powerful 
and loathsome spirits of darkness; and to-day we see 

1 Sac. Gel. 2 Luke ii. 3 See Horn. V. Bede, L. iv., c. 48. in cap. ix., Lucas. 4 Gen. 
i. 17. 5 Tobias viii. 3. 8 Apoch., xx., 2. 



216 " MID-LENT " THURSDAY. 

tlieir work in the doings of those who profess spiritual- 
ism. 

The Mass to-day is said in the Basilica of St. Lawrence, 
beyond the walls of Rome, to recall to the minds of those 
preparing for baptism the heroic virtues of this great 
martyr preparing for baptism. 

The Mass of the Monday of the third week of Lent is 
said in the great Church of St. Mark's, built in the fourth 
century in honor of St. Mark, the evangelist, by Pope 
St. Mark, whose body rests there till this day. 

The Station, of Tuesday is held in the Church of St. 
Pudentiana, the little daughter of Senator Pudens. She 
lived in the eleventh century and was noted for her 
piety, her charity and her care in burying the bodies of 
the martyrs. The church built in her honor stands on 
the site of her house, where she lived with her father and 
her sister, St. Praxeda, the same house which in the 
time when her uncle lived in it was honored by the pres- 
ence of St. Peter himself when he came to Rome, 

On Tuesday the services are held in the Church of St. 
Sixtus, in the Apennine way. It is called the old 
Church of Sixtus, to distinguish it from another of the 
same name built in honor of the same Pontiff saint and 
martyr. 

Thursday of the third week of Lent is the middle of 
Lent, for that reason it is called "Mid-Lent " by many of 
the authors who treat these matters. By the Greeks it 
is called the "Middle of the Fast, ''although they some- 
times' give that name to the whole of this week, it being 
the fourth of the seven weeks which make their Lent, and 
Thursday is among them a solemn feast. Those who follow 
the Latin Rite have always held Thursday of this week as 
a time of gladness ; but so as not to give any excuse for 
dissipation, or for breaking the fast, its celebration is 
put off till the following Sunday. 1 

The Station to-day is in the Church of SS. Cosmas 
and Damien, two physicians of Rome, and the Church by 
celebrating the Mass in the Church dedicated to their 
honor, tells us that she looks not only to our spiritual, 
but also to our bodily health, in asking the powerful pat- 
ronage of these two celebrated doctors of Rome. The 

1 Gueranger le Careme, p. 339. 



MOSES STEIKING THE EOCK. 217 

learned G-avantus treats at length that idea of the wis- 
dom of the Church in choosing these saintly brothers as 
the patrons of this day, the middle of Lent, when Our 
bodily strength is weakened by our fasting and our pen- 
ance. 

In the Gospel of to-day the Church celebrates the 
healing of Peter's wife's mother from the fever. 1 The 
woman is the human race, the fever is the many sins 
and bad inclinations toward sins that are in our fallen 
nature healed by our Lord. 2 

The Station where the Mass of Friday is said is held 
in the Church of St. Lawrence, built where once stood 
the temple of Lucina, the Goddess of Child-birth, where 
is now kept the gridiron on which St. Lawrence was 
roasted to death. 

To-day the Church celebrates the history of Moses 
striking the rock in the desert, from which flowed the 
clear and limpid waters to quench the thirst of the dying 
children of Israel. 3 St. Paul and all the fathers of the 
Church tell us that the rock struck was a figure of Christ. 4 
The rod in the hands of Moses typified the cross of 
Christ. Moses struck it twice, for the cross was of two 
pieces. The water which flowed was the water of bap- 
tism which flowed from the side of our dead Lord when 
the soldier opened it with a spear. 5 This has been the 
belief of all Christians from the very beginning. 

In the gospel 6 we recall the conversation of our Lord 
with the woman of Samaria, where, under the figure of 
water, he speaks of grace and of everlasting life. The 
woman was a figure of the Gentile nation. In her sim- 
plicity and humility she was better than the Jews; 
although she had no husband, but had lived with five 
different men, she was easily converted by our Lord, con- 
fessing her shame. She became like an apostle, for, 
leaving her vase at the well, she ran into the city and 
called all the people to the feet of our Lord, where many 
of them were converted. 7 

On Saturday the Station is in the Church of St. 
Susanna, the virgin and martyr of Rome, because to-day 
the Church in her offices celebrates the history of the 
chaste Susanna, as given by the prophet Daniel. 8 

1 Luke iv. 2 St. Ambrose, 1. iv., in L-nkn c. 4. 3 Exod. xvii. 6. 4 I. Cor. x. 4. 
6 John xix. 34. • John iv. 1 John iv. 28, 29, 30. 8 Dan. xiii. 



218 JEKUSALEM SIGNIFIES HEAVEN. 

In the Gospel we celebrate the remembrance of the 
benignity of our Lord as shown forth in his treatment of 
the woman taken in adultery. 1 

IV. — The Fourth Sunday of Lent. 

This Sunday is called " Rejoice," from the first word 
with which the Introit begins, 2 and is one of the most 
celebrated Sundays of the year. Now the Church sus- 
pends her holy sorrows of the Lenten Season. The 
chants and canticles of her services breathe joy and con- 
solation. The organ, silent for the three last Sundays, 
is played again. The deacon takes his dalmatic and the 
subdeacon his tunic. All proclaim joy and gladness, for 
to-day the Church celebrates the happiness of heaven. 3 
These are the expressions of joy the Church has put off 
from the Thursday before till to-day, so that they can be 
carried out by all the people at the Sunday services. 
They are to encourage the children of the Church to con- 
tinue their hard work of penance for the rest of Lent. 

The Station is held in the Church of the Holy Cross of 
Jerusalem, one of the chief Basilicas of the Eternal 
City. In the IVth century it was built by Constantine 
the Great out of the villa of Sessorius, and it was en- 
riched by the precious relics brought by the Empress 
Helena, Constantine's mother, who wished to raise an- 
other Jerusalem in Rome. With that idea she caused to 
be carried from Jerusalem great quantities of the holy 
earth of Calvary, the title, "Jesus, theNazarene, King of the 
Jews," which Pilate wrote and placed over the head of our 
Lord on the cross, the nails and lance which pierced his 
sacred flesh, and the very cross on which he was crucified, 
and there in that Church they are kept to this day with 
jealous care. That holy Basilica from the lost ancient 
times is called Jerusalem, a word which raises the high- 
est thoughts in the soul of man, for it means the heavenly 
Jerusalem, wherein we are all to rejoice with God here- 
after. For that reason the services of the Church to-day 
are filled with gladness, for they remind us of the celes- 
tial Jerusalem above, the home of all good Christians. 

The blessing of the Golden Rose is one of the ceremo- 

1 John viii. 2 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 65. 3 Durand. Rationale, Div. L., vi., c, 
lii., n. 1—2. 



THE GOLDEN EOSE. 219 ! 

nies of to-day, from whence it is sometimes called Rose 
Sunday. Writers tell us that it comes down from as 
early as the time of Leo IX. The great Pope Innocent 
III. leaves us one of the finest sermons which he preached 
during this ceremony in the Basilica of the Holy Cross. 
During the Middle Ages, when the Popes lived in the 
Lateran Palace, after having blessed the rose, clothed in 
gorgeous robes, with mitre of gold, and surrounded by 
the whole College of Cardinals, clothed in pale rose col- 
ors, 1 they went in procession to the church where the 
Station was held, the Pope holding the symbolic rose in 
his hand. There one preached a sermon on the rose, 
dwelling on its beauties and its perfections, as showing 
forth the power of God. After having finished the Mass, 
the Pontiff returned to his palace, where, when helped to 
dismount by one of the kings of Europe, he presented 
him with the rose as a sign of love and reward. To-day 
this ceremony is carried out with much pomp, and 
the rose is sent to some Prince or Princess, to a member of 
a royal family, to a city or to whom the Pope wishes to 
honor. 2 In mystic meaning the rose is our Lord; "the 
flower of the field and the lily of the valley." 3 Or it 
tells of the beauties of heaven awaiting us above. 4 Its 
color signifies charity ; its odor sweetness ; its taste the 
fullness of heavenly sweetness. 

In the Offices of to-day we celebrate the calling of Moses 
from the burning bush. 5 In the epistle of the Mass, 6 we 
read that part of the epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians, 
where he explains to us the rejection of Ismael and the 
calling of Isaac. 7 In the Gospel we are given that part 
where it tells of the feeding of the five thousand with the 
five loaves and two fishes. 8 Under that figure we find 
the blessed sacrament in which God feeds the souls of 
thousands, and of which he began to speak and to explain 
to them immediately after the miracle, telling them that 
he was " the living bread which came down from heaven," 9 
and promised them the Blessed Eucharist. 

The first Christians gave that multiplication of the 
loaves and fishes as a figure of Communion, and to-day 



1 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 65. 2 Gueranger le Temp, du Careme, p. 376. s Cant, 
of Cant., II. 1; 4 Durand. Rat. div. 1., vi., c, 53, n. 8. 5 Exod. iii. 6 See Ser. Basilii, 
Horn. 1, de Jejun. 7 Gal. iv. 8 John vi. 9 John vi, 41. 



220 ADOKING THE GOLDEN CALF. 

it is often found in the pictures painted on the walls of 
the Catacombs, those wonderful Christian monuments of 
the early ages. 

The Greeks celebrate to-day with great solemnity, with 
pomp and ceremony honoring the cross, and although it 
is Lent, they celebrate the feast of St. Climacus, an illus- 
trious abbot of Mount Sinai, who lived in the YIth century. 

The Station on Monday is at the Church of the Four 
Crowned Martyrs, Severus, Severian, Carpophorus and 
Yictorinus, who suffered under the persecution of Dio- 
clesian. There, in that church, repose their bodies with 
that of the great St. Sebastian. To-day the Church cele- 
brates the wisdom of Solomon in deciding who was the 
true mother of the child brought to him when one agreed 
to have the baby cut in two, which the feelings of the 
true mother would not allow. 1 In the gospel we are 
given the history of our Lord driving from the temple 
the money changers and those who were turning the 
temple, that house of prayer, into a den of thieves. 2 

The Station on Tuesday is held in the Church of St. 
Lawrence, in Damaso, thus called because it was built 
in the fourth century in honor of this great Archdeacon 
by Pope Damasus, who directed St. Jerome to arrange 
the Offices of the Breviary and regulated many things in 
the Latin Rite. The body of this saintly Pope reposes 
in this church, for that reason it is called "In Damaso." 

We are led by the services of to-day to think of the 
great sin of the children of Israel adoring the golden 
calf while Moses was upon the mountain, and how after 
that God told Moses and he made them the rites and 
ceremonies of the tabernacle, by which in typical mean- 
ing they would be reminded of the coming and of the 
death of their Lord and Saviour. 3 In the gospel we read 
the story of Jesus in the temple teaching them of the 
law of Moses, of circumcisiou, of how he came to do 
good, and how they tried to destroy him. But his time 
had not yet come. 4 

Wednesday in the Latin Bite is called the Ferial of 
the Great Elections, for, after many lessons and examina- 
tions, to-day the greater part of the Catechumens are ad- 



1 III. Kings iii. 2 Jofin ii. 3 Exod. xxxii. 4 John vii. ; See S Aug., Tract 29 in 
Joan. 



THE MAN BORN BLIND. 221 

mitted to prepare for baptism. As the number is always 
very great, the station is held in the Basilica of St. Paul, 
outside the walls of Rome, because it is large enough for 
all, and in honor of the many converts the apostle of the 
nations made during his life. 

The epistle of to-day is taken from the prophet Eze- 
chiel, where he tells of the time when the Lord will 
gather together of all nations the elect, and will pour upon 
them the saving waters of baptism, and then they will be 
washed from all their wickedness. 1 

In the gospel we read the history of the man born 
blind to whom our Lord gave sight. The man, accord- 
ing to the writings of the fathers, is the whole human 
race, 2 which was deprived of grace by the sin of Adam, 
and by the waters of baptism all the children of Adam 
are enlightened with faith, hope and charity, the eyes of 
the soul. For that reason, this Sunday, when the Cate- 
chumens are baptized, is called " The Illumination," be- 
cause they are then illuminated by these divine virtues 
which are infused into their souls. 3 

The Station of to-day -is held in the Church of SS. 
Silvester and Martin at the Mountains, one of the most 
venerable of the churches of Rome, built in the early 
ages by St. Silvester, under whose patronage it has been 
placed. 4 It was dedicated to St. Martin, that great 
worker of miracles among the Gauls. In the Yllth 
century, with great pomp, the body of Pope Martin was 
carried and placed in this church. He suffered martyr- 
dom but a short time before. It was the Titular Church 
of Cardinal St. Charles Borromeo, the great saint, and of 
Cardinal Tommasi, the great liturgical scholar, whose body 
is preserved there even to our days without corruption. 

To-day the Church celebrates the miracle of Elias. 
raising the dead boy to life. 5 Elias signified our Lord, 
who came and raised human nature to life by taking 
upon him our humanity, and infusing into us his life of 
grace by the seven sacraments. 6 In the gospel we read 
of our Lord raising from the dead the son of the widow 
of Nain. 7 The dead youth again is the human race, 
dead by all the sins that fell on us by the sin of Adam. 



1 Ech. xxxv. i. 2 St. Aug., Tract 44 in Joan. 3 Gueranger le Careme, 423, 4 In the 
Vlth century. 5 iy. Kings, c. iv, 6 Father Burke. 7 Luke vii, 



222 EISING FROM THE DEAD. 

The widow is the Church. 1 The Lord calls us daily 
from the tomb of sin by the voice of his grace. 2 

Friday the Station is in the Church of St. Eusebius, a 
priest of Rome who suffered martyrdom at the hands of 
the Arians under the Emperor Constantius. To-day we 
celebrate the miracle of Elias raising the widow's child 
from the dead. 3 Three times he stretched himself out 
upon the dead body before he arose, three times the 
water touches us in baptism. This week is devoted to 
the preparation of those preparing for baptism, for that 
reason these figures of the holy Rite are given. 

In the gospel we celebrate the raising of Lazarus from 
the dead. 4 Lazarus was a figure of the sinner 5 raised 
from the death of sin and the corruption of wickedness 
by the voice of our Lord through his priests in the 
tribunal of penance. Jesus cried, "Lazarus, come forth !" 
and death heard his voice and the dead came forth from 
the tomb. In the same way the voice of Jesus by his 
minister calls the sinner, hell hears the call and loosens 
its grasp on the soul of the wicked, and the sinner comes 
forth, pardoned. 

In the most ancient times Saturday of this week was 
celebrated under the name of " Thirsting," because by 
that word the Introit begins inviting those preparing for 
baptism to come and drink the crystal streams of grace 
flowing from the fountains of the Saviour. 

The Station was first at Rome, in the Basilica of St. 
Lawrence, beyond the walls, but it being too far, in latter 
ages they changed it to the Church of St. Nicholas in 
Prison. The lesson is taken from the prophet Isaias, 
where he speaks of the joy of those preparing for bap- 
tism; how they shall come from the north and from 
the sea and from afar off to the fountains of water, 
where he tells of the beauties of the Church, where there 
will be no storms, or fear, or thirst, for he shall be their 
shepherd. 6 The gospel tells us of the time when our 
Lord spoke to the crowd of Jews, and told them that he 
was the son of God, and they would not believe him. 7 
Then he told them that he was the light of the world. 8 



i S. Ambrose, Com. in Lucae, n, 7. 2 St. Ambrose, Coment. in Luc. c, vii., St. Aug., 
etc. 3 III. Kings xvii. 4 John xi. 5 Massillon Horn. sur. L'Ev. de Lazare. ; St. Au- 
gustine, Tract 19 in Joan, post In. etc. 6 Isaias xUx, 7 John viii. 8 St. Aug., Tract. 
34 in Joan. 



MEANING OF THE VEILED IMAGES. 223 

Y. — Passion Sunday. 

Passion Sunday is thus named because on this day the 
Pharisees and the chief priests in council came to the 
conclusion to put our Lord to death, because on the Fri- 
day before he raised Lazarus from the grave and they 
came on Saturday and told it in the temple. 1 The Sab- 
bath ended at sundown among the. Jews. When the sun 
went down that day their Sabbath was finished. The 
day before Lazarus was raised from the dead. It was the 
first day of the month, toward evening, and they resolved 
to put our Lord to death. For that reason he hid him- 
self, and to commemorate these things, toward evening, 
the Saturday before Passion Sunday, we veil the cross, 
the pictures and the images in our churches. 2 

Thus after the seven weeks of the Septuagesima season 
and of Lent, which typify the seven different ages of the 
world, we now come to the preparation for the death and 
funeral of our Lord. Two weeks are devoted to his pas- 
sion, because he suffered for two peoples, the Jews and 
the gentiles ; because he was foretold to come in the two 
conditions of God's people, before the law of Moses and 
after the giving of the law. Again, there are two weeks 
as there are two Testaments, one before he came and one 
in which he suffered. Thus there are two weeks, one be- 
fore he suffered and the other in which he was put to 
death. 

From the Yesper time till the Mass of Holy Saturday, 
the words, " Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and 
to the Holy Ghost," 3 are not said, for they are to give 
glory to the Holy Trinity, to the Triune Q-od, who was so 
dishonored in the sufferings of the Son. It is said at the 
end of the psalms and in other places, for the death of our 
Lord will be for our salvation, when we will glorify the 
Trinity in heaven. The Psalm, " Judge me, O Lord," is 
not said till Easter Sunday, as it is a joyous Psalm, which 
would be out of place in this time of sorrow. 4 In the 
three days of Holy Week all words of joy and gladness are 
heard no more. We make no remembrance of the Saints 
from now till Trinity Sunday, because we seek the suf- 

1 Durandus, Rationale, Div. 1., vi.. c. lx., n. 1. 2 Durandus Ibidem, n. 2 ; El Porque 
de las Ceremonias, cxxx. Dom. de Pas. 3 S. Seignori, de Caerem., Mis. c. iv., n. 3, 
4 O'Brien, Hist, of tne Mass, p. 185. 



224 THE EAGE OF THE JEWS. 

frages of the saints for two reasons ; to remember their 
great works and to ask their aid. But because now we 
are wholly taken up with the passion of our Lord, and 
after Easter we will celebrate his glorious resurrection 
and ascension, we must have nothing to take our minds 
from the sufferings of the dead Lord, or the glories of 
the risen Saviour. The Church makes a general remem- 
brance of all the saints, because there are so many that 
it would be impossible to mention all their names. 

The malice and the hatred of the Jews increases from 
day to day. The presence of the Lord in the temple 
irritates them, while his goodness, his sweetness and his 
miracles attract crowds of people to the holy place. He 
continues his wonderful works. His words become more 
energetic. His prophecies threaten the temple. He 
foretells the time to come prophesied by Daniel, when 
the Romans under Titus will come from the west and 
leave not a stone upon a stone of the holy city. But 
they could neither understand the prophecy of the de- 
struction of the city nor the words of David, the royal 
prophet, nor the prediction of Isaias, Israel's greatest in- 
spired prophet, relating to the sufferings and death of 
Jesus, the Lord's anointed. Obstinate in their errors, 
they would hear nothing. Blinded by their prejudices, 
they would not listen to him. Filled with pride, they 
would not have so lowly a man for their king. Ambi- 
tious for worldly gain, they looked for a Messiah who 
would conquer all nations and make them the ruling peo- 
ple of the world. Pushed on by all the worst passions 
of fallen human nature, they concluded to put him to 
death. They swore his life away, and brought upon 
themselves and upon their children that curse of his 
blood by which they are scattered into every part of the 
world, a living witness to all nations of the truth of the 
Gospel history of the sufferings and of the death of 
Christ. 

The Passion of our Lord opens out many of the secret 
evils of the heart of man, but the Jews were no worse 
than the people of to-day, and the sinners who do evil 
and commit wickedness are as bad as the Jews, and in 
the words of St. Paul, they are guilty of again crucifying 
the Son of God. 

Passion Sunday is thus named, because from this time 



PASSION WEEK STATIONS. 225 

the Church is entirely taken up with the passion of our 
Lord. It is called " Judge Me," from the first words of 
the Introit. It is called the Sunday of the " Paschal 
Moon," because it begins at the new moon, while among 
the Greeks it is called the " Fifth Sunday of the Holy 
Fasts." 

The Station of to-day is held in the great Basilica of 
St. Peter's Church, in Rome, because the feast of Pas- 
sion Sunday is of such importance that no other service 
can be held on this day, and because there is such a 
large number of people present that they used to fill the 
largest churches of Rome. For that reason the Services 
are held in the great St. Peter's. 

On Monday of Passion Week the Station is held in 
the Church of St. Chrysogonus, one of the most cele- 
brated of the early martyrs of the Roman Church, and 
whose name is in the Canon of the Mass. 

Tuesday, in ancient times, the Station was in the 
Church of the Holy Martyr, St. Cyriacus, and such is its 
title in the Missal ; but that church having fallen into 
ruins and the body of the Saint having been carried and 
laid in the Church of St. Mary, in Vialata, there the 
Station is held in our days. 

At Rome the Station of Wednesday is in the Church 
of St. Marcellus, a martyred Pope, to whom the noble 
Roman lady, Lucina, gave her house to be consecrated 
into a church. 

The Station of Thursday, at Rome, is in the Church 
of St. Apollinaris, who was one of St. Peter's disciples, 
and the first Bishop of Ravenna, a martyr for his faith. 

At St. Stephen's Church, on the Cselian Hill, the Sta- 
tion of Friday is held, and well are the services of that 
Friday, the last before Good Friday, held in that 
church, of one of the first of the martyrs who shed their 
blood for our Lord. 

This whole time of the year is devoted to the suffer- 
ings of our Lord, but at the same time the people could 
not forget the mother, and for that reason they have 
always, while weeping at the untimely and atrocious 
murder of the Son, sympathized with his holy mother. 
Well it was then to choose a time in the year to devote to 
the memory of the desolate mother at the foot of the 
cross. Such has been from the beginning of the Church 



226 THE SEVEN SORROWS. 

the thought of the people. But in 1423 the pious 
Thierry, Archbishop of Cologne, in a diocesan Synod, com- 
manded Saturday before Palm Sunday to be dedicated 
throughout his archdiocese to the seven sufferings of 
our lady. That custom of celebrating the Feast of the 
Seven Sorrows of the Virgin soon spread throughout the 
whole Church, and was tolerated by the silent consent of 
the Popes till the last century, when Benedict XIII. 
solemnly placed it on the cycle of the Church, to be held 
each year throughout the world 1 under the name of the 
Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 2 

The Station of Saturday is at the Church of St. John, 
before the Lateran Gate, in the Old Basilica, built on the 
spot where tradition says the beloved disciple, by order 
of Domitian, was plunged into a caldron of boiling oil, 
from which he escaped unhurt. 

1 Decret. 22, August, 1727. 2 Gueranger la Passion et la Semaine Sainte, p. 167. 




Church of St. Gudule, Brussels. 



Chapter VII. — The Holy Week Season. 



REASONS RELATING TO THE HOLY WEEK SEASON. 

We are drawing nearer and nearer to the sufferings of 
our Lord. We have seen how the Septuagesima Time is 
a preparation for the Lenten Season. We have seen how 
Lent is like a vestibule leading us into Holy Week, 
when we celebrate the death of the Son of God. We 
here see how the week before Holy Week is like the 
holies leading us into the Holy of Holies, the great mys- 
tery of the sufferings and the death of our Lord for us and 
for our salvation, and how year by year the children of 
the Church renew in mystic Bites the sad scenes of Cal- 
vary's Cross. 

The oldest liturgical works, the celebrated books of 
the ancient churches, the sermons of Saints, the works 
of the Fathers of the Church, the greatest histories of 
the past ages, the laws of fallen empires, the venerable 
traditions of the early ages, all proclaim and cry out with 
one voice, and the burden of their story is the sufferings 
and the death of Christ for the salvation of the race. 
And the Church into whose holy hands was given to 
guard the "deposit of faith," 1 keeps forever bright before 
the nations the sad story of his death. By her ceremo- 
nies, her sacred Rites, her magic symbols and her holy 
ceremonies, she ever preaches the death of God for man. 
The primal thought of the Christian religion in her Lit- 
urgy is to keep before the minds of men his coming and 
his death ; to celebrate each year, as the ages roll by, the 
grand and transcendent mystery of his death ; to preach 
to the generations of men as they come and go upon the 
stage of this world, that the Saviour came, and that he 
died for our redemption. 

During Lent, even to Palm Sunday, we sometimes 
celebrate, during the days of the week, the feasts of the 

1 ITim. vi. 20, 



THE NAMES OF "HOLY WEEK." 229 

Saints,when they are closely connected with the passion of 
our Lord, but no solemnity but that of the day itself must 
be held on Passion Sunday, on Palm Sunday, or on the 
days of holy week, for they are entirely set apart to the 
honor and to the remembrance of the sufferings and of 
the death of our Lord. 

From the days of the Apostles the Christians cele- 
brated with solemn rites and ceremonies the sufferings 
of their Lord. 1 In the dark and dismal days of perse- 
cution, when they fled to the catacombs, there they 
held their memorial services in remembrance of the death 
of our Saviour. Those sad and sombre rites were held 
in great veneration by the Christians of Alexandria 2 in 
the third century. A hundred years went by, and we find 
St. Chrysostom of Constantinople calling the days of these 
ceremonies the " Great Week." 3 We find it named the 
" Painful Week " by the early Saints, because of the suf- 
ferings of the Saviour. We find it spoken of as the 
" Week of Indulgence," because then the sinners were for- 
given. We find its name as "The Greater Week" among 
the Greeks, because of the greatness of the mysteries. 4 
We find it called by the Germans " The Week of Sor- 
rows,"or " The Week of Miseries, " because the Church 
sits in sorrow for the sufferings and the death of her 
Spouse, our Lord, or they named it the " Week of Suffer- 
ings." We find it called by the early Christians of Eng- 
land, " Holy Week," and that is the name by which it is 
known wherever the English language is spoken. 

The fast and self-denial increases as we draw nearer 
and nearer to the time of Holy Week. The people of the 
Latin Rite are allowed to use eggs, cheese and what are 
called " white meats," but the members of the Eastern 
Bites, keeping close to the traditions of the Apostles, ob- 
serve a more rigorous fast, using only bread, water and 
salt, with sometimes fruits. 

During the first ages of the Church fasting was carried 
as far as the power of man could bear it, many eating 
nothing during Holy Week, from Monday morning till 
the crow of the cock on Saturday night, before the break 
of Easter morning. 5 Few could fast so long, and the 

1 See St. Aug. Epist., lv., n. 24. 2 St. Denys Episcop.; Alexand. Epis. ad Basil, c. i. 
3 Horn. xxx. in den. 4 Cardinal Wiseman's Holy Week. p. 14. 5 St. Epiphanius Exp. 
Fidei Haer. xxii. 



230 HOLY WEEK IN ANCIENT TIMES. 

greater number took food each second day, eating noth- 
ing from Thursday till after the Matin hour of Easter 
morning. Many are the wonderful examples of this rig- 
orous fast we find among the Eastern nations and among 
the Russians in the middle ages. 

Long "Watches " during the night was one of the ways 
of celebrating the time of Holy Week in the early ages 
of the Church. On Holy Thursday, after having offered 
up the Holy Sacrifice, in remembrance of the Last Sup- 
per, the people remained long into the night in the 
Church, listening to sermons, praying before the Blessed 
Sacrament, or bowed in humble praise, prayer and medi- 
tation before the altar. 1 Good Eriday and Holy Satur- 
day nights were spent entirely in the churches of the 
cities, in honor and in remembrance of the burial of 
Christ. The most widespread and popular of all these 
"Watches" was the one of Holy Saturday night, 2 or the 
eve of Easter, which lasted till the morning. The churches 
were crowded with people. The Catechumens received 
their last instructions. The people redoubled their de- 
votions and their prayers. All remained till the Mass 
began at the break of day, then they separated to go to 
their homes at the rising of the sun, there to prepare 
themselves for the great ceremonies of Easter, and for 
the joys of the Resurrection of our Lord. 3 

Eor a long time all servile work was forbidden during 
Holy Week, and the laws of the land united with those 
of the Church in making it a holy season, a time of vaca- 
tion from all kinds of labor, so that the people could bet- 
ter devote themselves to the celebration of the passion 
and death of our Lord. The thought of the sad sacrifice 
of Calvary Cross was in every heart. 4 The services of 
the Church took up all the time of pure souls. Their 
watchings, prayers and fastings required all their 
strength, while the solemn, sombre services of the Church 
took such deep root in their minds as to last till the 
next spring came around, bringing with it again the same 
ceremonies. 

In the days of the Roman Empire the laws of Gratian 
and of Theodosius 5 forbade all lawsuits during Holy 

1 St. Chrysostom Horn. XXX. in Gen. 2 S. Aug. Sermo., CCXIX. in Vig. Paschse. 
3 St. Cyril, Hier. Catech. xviii. ; Const. Apost. 1. i. c. xviii. 4 El Porque de las Cere- 
roonias, c, xxx. Dom. I. Ramps. 5 In 380 and 389. 



CHRISTIAN CHARITY. 231 

Week and the week following Easter. "We find in some 
of the sermons of the Saints remarks relating to these 
laws, and that during that fortnight the days were kept 
like Sunday. 1 

The Christian emperors and rulers not only stopped 
all law trials, but they held these days as days of mercy 
to their subjects in honor of the mercy of God to the 
world. These were the days when the Church opened 
her doors to the public penitents and to the greatest 
sinners, and the Catholic kings following their mother, the 
Church, opened the prison doors to their prisoners jailed 
for political reasons, to captives taken in war and to per- 
sons arrested for debts. The only exceptions were those 
whose liberty would be dangerous to the public good, as 
murderers or bad characters. According to St. Chrysos- 
tom, the Emperor Theodosius sent letters of pardon the 
week before Easter to the cities and villages where the pris- 
oners were kept when condemned to death, ordering them 
to be set at liberty. 2 For a long time that was the cus- 
tom among the emperors of Rome. That custom came 
from the Jews, who liberated a prisoner each year at their 
Easter, 3 as we see that they delivered Barabbas in place of 
our Lord. From them it passed into the Roman laws 
and became a part of the Theodosian code. It was found 
in the laws of nearly all the nations of Europe during the 
middle ages. 4 We find it in the chapters of Charle- 
magne that the bishops had the power of demanding the 
deliverance of convicts from the judges on Holy Week, 
and even that they could prevent the judges from enter- 
ing the Church if they refused. 5 We find the same in 
the life of Charles VI., when he had put down a rebel- 
lion among the people of Rouen, and taken many of them 
prisoners, on Holy Week he set them at liberty. 6 We 
find the last remains of that truly charitable and Catholic 
custom in the government and court of France before the 
French revolution wiped out so many of the beautiful 
Christian customs coming down from the earliest ages. 
At first all work of the government was stopped from the 
beginning of Lent till Low Sunday. Such was the way 
in the middle ages. Then they began to take their 

1 Horn. St. Chrysoetom, Ser. St. Augustine, etc. 2 St. Chryst. Horn, in Mag. Hebdom, 
xxx., in Gen. Horn. VL, ad Pop. Antioch. 3 gt. Leo, Ser. XL., de Quadrages, II. 4 St. 
Llligii, Ser. X. 5 Capit. 1., vi. 6 Jean Juvenal des Ursin, in 1332, 



232 THE CHUECH DESTROYING SLAVERY. 

vacations on Wednesday of Holy Week, but before end- 
ing, all the members of the government went to the pris- 
ons, where the chairman held a reception. Then they 
questioned each prisoner relating to his case, and set at 
liberty all those who were not great criminals. These 
were the ages of faith, when the kings, the princes and the 
members of the royal families of Christendom left their 
thrones, their palaces and their abodes of wealth and 
luxury and thronged the prisons to set the prisoners 
free. Then they gathered in the hospitals to soothe the 
sickness of the sufferers. They visited the asylums to 
see the orphans. They called on the poor to give them 
alms. They gladdened the home of the widow to give 
her a ray of joy. 

Those are remains of the olden times when God was 
ever uppermost in the thoughts of men ; when the letters 
of kings were dated with the words, "Reigning our Lord 
Jesus Christ." 1 Then the royal families were obedient 
to the Church. Then there were no secret societies, no 
Socialists, no Nihilists eating out the foundations of gov- 
ernments, for all were Catholics and all looked up to 
their rulers as having their power and their authority 
from God. From the converted nations of Europe sprang 
the governments, and all worshipped the Lord their 
God. But in this age of ours, they call progress that 
onward tendency towards the denial of authority, towards 
the rejection of the rule of the Church, towards the decay 
of society, towards the dying out of the race itself by 
sin, against the sanctity of marriage, and that revolting 
evil which we call divorce. 

At the preaching of the apostles, slavery, that son of 
sin, had spread throughout the world as a relic of the 
pagan ages before the time of Christ. One of the first 
acts of the Church, wherever she had spread, was to dis- 
courage slavery, and in time it came to pass that there 
was not a slave to be found in the whole of Europe. 
They were delivered from their bondage by the preach- 
ing of the priests and by the still but prudent work of 
the clergy, without war or bloodshed, as happened in 
our own country during the late civil war. Although 
law courts could not be held during Holy Week, still 

1 Gueranger la Passion et la Semaine Sainte, p. 9. 



CHRISTIAN CHARITY. 233 

such was the lenient spirit of the Church that we find 
in* the Justinian code, that "it will nevertheless ^ be 
allowed to give slaves their liberty, and no act required 
for their delivery will be rejected by that law." 1 Justinian 
here but gives force to the laws made by his prede- 
cessor, Constantine, the morning after the triumph of 
the Church, when she came forth from the darkness ^ of 
the catacombs. For a long time before Constantine 
gave liberty to the Christians, the Church, like a mother, 
had looked after the slaves, and had made laws obliging 
their masters to give them a fortnight to rest at Easter, 2 
till in centuries after she set them at liberty, so that there 
has not been for many ages a slave in Europe. 

In the same way the people have always been told to 
give to the poor during this holy time, to help them in 
their poverty and aid them in their distress, preaching 
that, "Who giveth to the poor lendeth to the Lord." 
This has always been the way the good Christians spend 
the time of Lent, but especially during Holy "Week. St. 
Chrysostom praises the charity and liberality of the peo- 
ple of his day for their goodness to the poor. 

The Liturgy of the Church is filled with mystery in 
these days, when she celebrates so many wonderful 
events in the life of our Lord; but we will leave the most 
of them till we come to the ceremonies which are carried 
out during the different days of this Sacred Season. 

Septuagesima Time is a preparation for Lent. Lent 
is a preparation for Holy Week, but Holy Week is so 
holy that it must have for itself a preparation, and that 
is the week before it, or the week following Passion Sun- 
day. Thus, as it were, by so many steps we rise to the 
most mysterious and to the most sacred time of the year, 
Holy Week. 

Three things are in the mind of the Church during 
the time of Lent : the Passion of our Saviour, which 
from week to week draws nearer ; the preparation of 
the newly converted, who are to be baptized on Holy 
Saturday, and the reconciling of sinners, who are to re- 
ceive the Blessed Eucharist at Easter. 

Our Lord had raised Lazarus from the rottenness of 
the grave, at Bethany, not far from the walls of Jerusa- 

1 Cod. lib. iii., Tit., xii., leg. 2. 2 Apostolic Constitutions, b. vii., c 33, 



234 RENEWING CALVARY SCENES. 

lem, and that stupendous miracle excited to the highest 
pitch the rage of the Jews against him. The people 
were struck with astonishment to see Lazarus daily in 
the streets whom they had seen dead, buried, and for four 
days laid in the tomb. They wanted to make a king of 
our Lord and to sing Hosannas to the Son of David. 
The Pharisees of Jerusalem, the scribes of the temple, 
the elders of the people, and the chief priests of the 
holies, saw that they had not a moment to spare if they 
would prevent him proclaimed the king of the Jews. We 
are to be present at their wicked meetings where the 
blood of the Saint of Saints was sworn away — where the 
Divine Victim was sold for a few pieces of silver. We 
are to hear the traitor kiss of Judas. We are to witness 
the trial in the court of Pilate. We are to go on the sad 
journey to Calvary. We are to be there, and to contem- 
plate in mystic rites, in solemn liturgies and in grand 
ceremonies, the majestic drama of the passion, the death 
and the burial of the Son of God. 

The catechumens or the newly converted draw nearer 
and nearer each day to the fountains of living waters. 
Their catechism and their instruction goes on. The fig- 
ures of the Old Testament are explained to them ; the 
mysteries of our holy religion are unfolded to them ; the 
Apostles' Creed is given to them ; the wonderful humili- 
ations of the Redeemer are shown them, and now with 
the people they wait for the ceremonies of the Church, 
typifying the sufferings and the resurrection of their 
Lord and Saviour. On Holy Saturday they are to be 
washed from their sins in the waters of regeneration. 
They can be baptized at any time in the year, but Holy 
Saturday has been from the beginning of the Church the 
time when they are most solemnly baptized after the 
blessing of the baptismal font. 

The reconciling of sinners is the second work of the 
Church in this time. From Ash Wednesday they have 
carried the ashes on their heads as a sign of penance and 
of sorrow for their sins. They fasted from food during 
Lent ; they practiced self-denial all these weeks ; they 
offered many acts of sorrow to the Lord ; and as the time 
of the death of the Lamb of God, " Who taketh away the 
sins of the world," draws nearer, they live in the hope of 
being forgiven for their sins, and that like him they will 



CEREMONIES OF SADNESS. 235 

rise gloriously from the grave of sin to the glories of a 
better and a holier life. 

The Church, like a widow weeping over the murder of 
her Spouse, sits in the deepest sadness. She covers the 
crosses, the pictures, the statues, the works of art, and 
the sculptures of the great masters in the churches 
with veils of violets, so that the people see but 
"Jesus and him crucified." 1 For a long time the 
heavenly "Alleluia" is heard no more; the "Glory be 
to God in the highest" is silent; the "Glory be to the 
Father," etc., ending each Psalm in the Office during the 
year, is said no more. The Psalm, "Judge me, O Lord," 2 
beginning Mass, is omitted. Her holy chants and 
sacred anthems breathe but woe. All the services, all 
the ceremonies, all the rites of this time, from the even- 
ing before Passion Sunday, are of the most sad, solemn 
and sombre kind. Only when we celebrate the feast of 
some Saint does the Church relax a little in these rites 
and ceremonies, which wake the deepest sensibilities of 
the heart of man, making every sympathetic chord vibrate 
with affliction, with sadness, with sorrow, with woe and 
desolation, in remembrance of the death of the Saviour of 
the World. 

Saturday eve before Passion Sunday the cross and 
the images were covered with a violet veil, because, says 
the great writers on these subjects, it signifies the hu- 
miliation of our Lord in his passion, when in his suffer- 
ings he veiled his Divinity, and because from this time, 
when the Jews tried to put him to death, he hid from 
them. The law of the Church relating to this veiling of 
the cross and the images is so strict, that even when the 
feast of the Annunciation comes in Passion Week they are 
not uncovered. From this time till Trinity Sunday we 
have no commemoration of the Saints, for the whole 
Church is completely taken up with the mysteries of our 
Lord. 

During the year different parts of the Bible are read in 
the Offices and in the Masses, but during this time the 
sad words of the prophet of sorrows, Jeremiah, are read. 

1 1. Cor. ii, 2. 2 Ps. jj. 



236 JESUS ENTERING JERUSALEM. 



I.— Palm Sunday. 

Palm Sunday is also called the Sunday of the Boughs, 
because of the branches we carry in our hands; it is 
named Hosanna Sunday, because of the triumphant cry 
of the Jews ; it is called Flower Sunday because Easter, 
which is but eight days coming, is like the flower of the 
year. As a remembrance of this Sunday, the Spaniards, 
when they discovered the coast of Florida, on Palm Sun- 
day, called it Florida, the Spanish for flowers, in honor 
of the feast of our Lord's entry into Jerusalem. 1 

Again, it is called the Sunday of washing the heads, 
because on this day in ancient times those preparing for 
baptism on Holy Saturday, washed their heads for the 
Holy Oils. It is called the Sunday of the Admitted, for on 
this day those who were prepared for baptism were ad- 
mitted to the Mass till the Canon; while by the Greeks it 
is called by a word which means to carry palms. 

Palm Sunday is thus named from the Jews taking 
branches of palm from the trees and strewing them in the 
way, and carrying them in their hands as they came with 
Jesus into the city, crying, " Hosanna, blessed is he that 
cometh in the name 01 the Lord." 2 As a remembrance of 
our Lord's triumphant entry into the holy city each year 
we celebrate Palm Sunday. On the 20th of March, 3 when 
the Lord and his disciples were going up to Jerusalem to 
celebrate the feast of the Pasch, they came to Bethphage, 
a little village on the side of the Mount of Olives. From 
there he sent two of his disciples into the village, telling 
them to bring him an ass and her colt. Going they found 
them as he said, and brought them to him. Placing 
their garments on the colt, which was never rode before, 
the Saviour rode the animal into the city of Jerusalem, 4 as 
foretold by the prophet. 5 According to the custom of the 
Jews, great crowds had come to celebrate the feast. 
Spreading their garments in the way, and breaking 
boughs of palm, they spread them in the road, and all 
cried : " Hosanna to the son of David, blessed is he that 
cometh in the name of the Lord. 6 Blessed be the king- 



1 Gueranger le Demanche des Rameux, p. 228. 2 John xii. 13. 3 El Porque de las 
Ceremonias, CXXX., Domide Ramos. 4 John xii. 14. 5 Zach. ix. 9. 6 Math, xxi, 9, 



MEANING. OF THE ASS, COLT AND PALMS. 237 

dom of our Father David that cometh, Hosanna in the 
highest." 1 

From the oldest traditions we learn that the ass, the 
mother of the colt which had been used to being ridden, 
signified the Jewish people, who had been used to the 
law of God, who were, as it were, the mother of the 
Christian Church, and the colt which had not been 
broken typified the Gentiles, who had not received the 
law. 2 Our "Lord, taking the colt in place of the mother, 
foretold the choosing of the Gentiles, who were to be 
called to the law of God in place of the Jews who were 
rejected. Hosanna is a Hebrew word signifying about 
the same as our English hurrah, and means an exclama- 
tion rather than a thing. 3 Such was the word used by 
the Israelites in honoring any of their public men. 4 
" Hosanna to the Son of David," tells of his human 
nature. "Hosanna in the highest," proclaimed his 
divine nature ; thus inspired by the Holy Spirit they 
honored him as God and man. They carried branches 
of palm, for that was the custom of the Jews as laid 
down in the law of Moses for the celebration of the 
Feast of the Tabernacles. "And you shall take to you on 
the first day the fruits of the fairest tree, and branches 
of palm trees, and boughs of thick trees, and willows of 
the brook ; and you shall rejoice before the Lord your 
God." 5 The Mount of Olives, along which our Lord passed 
on his way to Jerusalem, was covered with palm trees. 6 
Palm signifies peace 7 among all the people of the East, 8 and 
thus with palms of peace the Jews saluted the Prince of 
Peace coming to be offered up as a sacrifice to God for 
the peace of the world. The Jews celebrated the Feast 
of the Tabernacles with branches of palm, not only in 
memory of their deliverance from Egypt, but also to pre- 
figure the coming of the future Messiah, who was to de- 
liver them from all their enemies. Palm signifies victory, 
for that reason the martyrs are represented with palms 
in their hands. He rode upon an ass after the custom 
of princes and the nobles of the Jews, 9 for they did not 
use horses. 10 



1 Mark xi. 9, 10. 2 S. Axis. En. in Ps. cxxvi. n. 11. 3 St. August, in Tract. L. in 
Joan. 4 Benedic. XIV. De Dom. Pal. n. 14. 5 Levit. xxiii. 40. 6 Benedict. XIV. De 
Dom. Palmarum, n. 12. 7 I. Mach. xiii. 37 ; Mach. x. 7. 8 Philo. Josephus de Alex- 
andra, etc. 9 Judges x. 4, xii. 14. 10 Benedictus XIV. De Dom. Pal. n. 15. 



'23£ ANTIQUITY OP PALM SUNDAY. 

In honor and in remembrance of this triumphant entry 
of our Lord into Jerusalem, in the last year of his life, 
and on the Sunday before his death, we celebrate each 
year the solemnities of Palm Sunday. We find that this 
custom of celebrating Palm Sunday comes down from 
the most ancient times — from the days of the apostles. 1 
It is found in the calendars of the Church in the IVth 
century. 2 It is seen in the sacramentaries of Pope Gela- 
sius and of Gregory the Great. It is mentioned in the 
most ancient Missals, in the oldest Ceremonials and Lit- 
urgical works which have remained to us since the times 
of the destruction of the Roman Empire, when so many 
books were destroyed by the barbarians of the North. 
They all speak of Palm Sunday. 3 

In former times those converts who had been prepared 
for baptism asked to be received into the Church, and 
they were not told to leave after the gospel, but on Palm 
Sunday they were allowed to remain during Mass 
till the celebrant began the Canon, while the others 
were sent away at the Offertory. 4 To-day also their 
heads were washed, 5 which was not done since receiving 
the ashes on Ash Wednesday. 

Among the churches of the Oriental nations they 
bring a whole palm tree into the church, where it is 
blessed and carried in the procession. Then they all 
tear its branches off and carry them to their homes. 6 

The ceremonies of Palm Sunday are very ancient and 
go back to the most remote ages. In the IVth century, 
St. Cyril, bishop of Jerusalem, tells us that the palm 
tree from which the Jews in the time of our Lord broke 
the branches, was growing in his time in the valley of 
the Cedron. 7 That is not surprising when we know how 
long trees will live. In the following century we find 
that the ceremonies of Palm Sunday were carried out 
with great splendor in the churches of the East, and in 
the monasteries and the convents of Syria and of Egypt, 
with which the deserts of that time were peopled. At 
the beginning of Lent many of the holy monks were 
allowed by their superiors to pass the holy season of 
Lent amid the solitudes of the deserts, in fasting and in 



1 El Porque de las Ceremonias, cxxx. 2 Meratus T. I. p. 1004. 3 See Benedict XIV. 
De Dom. Palm. n. 20. 4 Benedict XIV. De Dom. Pal. n. 21. ' 5 St. Isidor L. I. Tit. 7, 
n. l. 6 Geariua Not, ad Each. Graecorum, p. 745. 7 Cateches x. 



THE CEBEMONIES OE PALM S-UNDAY. 239 

prayer, as in a deep and profound retreat. But they 
always came back to their monasteries on Palm Sunday. 1 
We find Palm Sunday celebrated in all parts of Europe 
as soon as its nations were converted to the Gospel. In 
the Tilth century, when the missionaries from Rome 
and from Ireland had penetrated to the north of Europe, 
they found that the palm tree did not grow in these cold 
countries. Other branches then took the place of the 
palm, and the Church allowed cedar, box-wood, and 
laurel to be used in its stead, but the prayers were never 
changed, and to-day they are the same as in the most 
ancient times. 

The ceremonies of Palm Sunday begin by the cele- 
brant and ministers coming to the altar clothed in violet 
vestments, which they wore during the services of the 
Church since the beginning of Septuagesima Sunday, as 
a sign of fasting and of penance for their sins. At the cor- 
ner of the altar the celebrant begins the services by the 
words of the Jews, when our Lord rode into Jerusalem, 
and a prayer for faith and hope in the Lord. He reads 
the Scriptures from the book of Exodus, which tells of the 
wonders of the Lord to the people of Israel at the fountains 
of waters and at the seventy palm trees, 2 followed by 
the history of our Lord entering Jerusalem in triumph, 
as given in the gospel. 3 The celebrant then blesses the 
palms with appropriate prayers, sprinkling them with 
holy water as a sign that they are washed from all bad 
influences, and become holy and clean for the services of 
the Church. 4 They are then incensed to show that they 
become like so many prayers of peace in the hands of all 
those who carry them. They are sprinkled with holy 
water three times incensed in honor of the three most 
holy persons of the Trinity. 

The palms having been blessed with ceremonies, and 
with prayers and passages taken from the Bible relating 
to the triumphant entry of our Lord into Jerusalem, 
then the highest in dignity in the sanctuary gives a palm 
to the celebrant, who makes no genuflection nor kisses 
his hand, because the celebrant represents our Lord him- 
self. Then the celebrant gives him a palm, who in taking 



1 Vita S. Eutnymius. 2 Exod. xv. xvi. 3 Math. xxi. 4 El Porque de las Cere- 
monias C. XXX. Dom. de Ramos. 



240 PALM SUNDAY CEREMONIES. 

it, kisses the hand of the celebrant. Then all come in 
their turn, the highest in dignity first, who genuflecting on 
their knees, receive the palm from the hands of the cele- 
brant. During this time it is customary for one of the 
servers of Mass to distribute the palms to the people in 
the church. When all have received their palms the 
celebrant prays over them, asking God to give them the 
innocence of the children of Israel, who accompanied our 
Lord in his entry into Jerusalem. 

Then the procession takes place while the choir sings 
of the triumphant entry of our Lord into the holy city. 
All go outside the church except two or four chanters, 
who sing a beautiful Latin hymn composed by Theodul- 
phus, 1 the abbot, and which was sung by him in prison 
when the Emperor Louis the Pius passed in the pro- 
cession on Palm Sunday. 2 Hearing him singing it, he 
restored to him his liberty. 3 Afterwards he became 
Bishop of Orleans. 

When the hymn is ended, the sub-deacon strikes the 
door of the church with the staff of the cross, and the 
doors of the church are opened to the procession, which 
enters. 

From the writers of the middle ages we learn the mean- 
ing of these rites and ceremonies. " The people of Jeru- 
salem see an humble man riding on an ass and the colt of 
an ass, and nevertheless they celebrate his glorious tri- 
umph by carrying palms and strewing the way with 
their garments, singing to him their imperial praises, 
because in spirit they see in him the Conqueror over the 
devil and over death. This crowd, beloved brethren, by 
the living boughs typify the triumphant standard of the 
cross. And well they represent by the green branches 
what they will always live up to in their morals, what 
the winter cannot freeze, what the summer cannot 
wither, what they can say with the Psalmist, * I will bless 
the Lord at all times, his praise shall ever be in my 
mouth.' 4 The branches of palm signify the victory which 
the Lord was to gain by his death conquering death, and 
by the standard of the cross overcoming the devil, the 
prince of death. The colt of the ass represented the 

1 Bishop England's Holy Week. 2 El Porque de la Ceremonias, c. xxx. Dom. de 
Kamos. 3 Benedict. XIV. de Dom. Pal. n. 13. 4 Fabri Condones, vol. I. p. 473 ; see 
aiso El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. 



PALM SUNDAY IN THE MIDDLE AGES. 241 

simple hearts of the gentiles, who, by their conversion 
and obedience, came to the vision of peace in heaven. 1 " 
Thus since the dove brought the branch of olive, the 
olive and the palm have been signs of peace. The doors 
of the church are closed to tell us of paradise — closed 
to the human race by the sin of Adam. They are 
opened when struck by the cross in the hands of the 
sub-deacon, because heaven was opened to man by the* 
cross 2 of Christ. 3 

Jerusalem in holy scriptures is but a picture of heaven, 
and our Lord entering into that holy city on Palm Sunday, 
surrounded by his disciples and by the children of 
Israel, was but a figure of his glorious entry into 
heaven the day of his ascension, surrounded by all the 
souls of the holy ones of the Old Testament. 

In some churches in the middle ages they used to carry 
with great pomp the Book of the Gospels in the pro- 
cessions, because it contains the words of our Lord. 
At a place on the way called a " Station, " the deacon 
opened the holy Book and sang that part giving the 
story of the triumphant entry of the Lord into Jerusalem. 
The cross which had been covered with a veil from the 
vesper time before Passion Sunday, was then uncovered, 
and all kissed the image of the Crucified, while each 
placed his branch at the foot of the cross as an offering to 
the Saviour. Then all marched into the church in the 
usual manner. In England and in Normandy, in the 
Xlth century, after Berengarius had denied the Real 
Presence, they carried the Blessed Sacrament with great 
solemnity in the procession, as a lively protest against 
his errors, and that triumphant carrying of our Lord in 
the procession was but a foreshadowing of the procession 
of the feast of Corpus Christi and of the Forty Hours. 

In the days of the crusades, Palm Sunday was cele- 
brated with great ceremonies. The guardian of the holy 
land, with the religious orders and all the Catholics of 
Jerusalem, went in the morning to Bethphage,where tak- 
ing palms in their hands, they entered the city in a great 
procession. Coming into the Church of the Holy Sepul- 
chre, with the usual ceremonies there, they offered up the 



1 Isidore De Of. Eccl. L. I., c. 27. 2 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Dom. de 
Ramos. 3 Amati Pouget Inst. Cath. T. 1, p. 11, S. iv. c. 2, 9. 



24:2 at st. petee's church, rome. 

holy Sacrifice. For more than two centuries the Turks 
have forbidden these holy rites, which were carried out 
for so many ages, when Godfrey de Bouillon and his suc- 
cessors were the Kings of Jerusalem. 1 

The Station where the Mass is celebrated is in the 
great Basilica of St. John Lateran, the mother and the 
chief of all the churches of Rome and of the world. 
In former times, when the Popes resided at the palace 
beside this venerable Church, before St. Peter's was 
built, the papal ceremonies were here carried out with 
great splendors. But since Michael Angelo with those 
who followed him laid the plan of St. Peter's, the 
grandest building ever raised to the worship of the 
true and living God, the Pope celebrates Palm Sunday 
at the Vatican. 

The Mass of this Sunday has none of the traits of joy 
and gladness we find in the ceremonies of the blessing and 
of the procession of the palms. The part of the Gospel 
read at this Mass is the history of the passion of our Lord 
as given by St. Matthew. 2 The passion, according to St. 
Mark, 3 is said on Tuesday, that of St. Luke on Wednesday, 4 
and that of St. John on Friday. 5 

The manner in which these sad histories of the passion 
and death of our Lord are recited, is different from the 
other Gospels of the year. The lesson which the Church 
wishes to impress on her children by these sad histories 
is that the Author of Life was slain for our sins. To 
make a deep impression on our minds the ceremonies dif- 
fer from those of the usual Gospel rites. The blessing 
is not asked, for the giver of all blessings is dead ; no 
lights are carried before the book, for the light " of all 
men who cometh into the world " 6 is crucified ; no smoke 
of incense ascends heavenward, for the piety and the faith 
of the Apostles are wavering; the salute, "The Lord be 
with you," is not sung, for by a salute the traitor Judas 
betrayed his master; the " Glory be to thee, O Lord," is 
omitted, for we are struck with grief at the sight of the 
Redeemer stripped of his glory. All is sadness. 7 

Among the Greeks and Romans, the way of reciting 

1 Darras Hist, of the Church, etc. 2 xxvi., xxvii. ; by order of Pope Alexander, El 
Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. 3 14, 15. 4 Luke, 22, 23. 5 John xviii., xix. ; el 
Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Dom. et Palmos. 6 John l. 9. 7 Bishop England, 
Cerem. of Holy Week. 



GREEK AND ROMAN TRAGEDY. 243 

tragedy was to have different persons take separate parts 
and recite them as they came in the piece, and the 
Church has preserved that way in the singing of the 
passion of our Lord during Holy Week. 1 We could have 
given a strong description of the passion and of the suffer- 
ings of the Saviour, but the most eloquent sermon is cold 
compared to strong and powerful dramatic tragedy, such as 
is carried out by the Church on these days. 2 It is beyond 
all description in its powerful effect, and it must be seen 
and heard by those who understand the Latin, to feel its 
beautiful sublimity, which moves the very depths of the 
soul, and leaves an impression which once heard is never 
forgotten. 

In the principal churches, in seminaries, and wherever 
our rites and ceremonies are carried out, the passion is 
sung by three clergymen and the choir. The clergymen 
should be vested like deacons with stoles only. The his- 
toric part is sung by one in a manly tenor voice, what was 
spoken by a third person in a high key, and the words of 
our divine Lord are chanted in a deep, solemn bass ; all 
producing a wonderful dramatic effect, each part having its 
own cadence, as in the dramas of the Greeks and Romans, 
each is suited to the character represented, and is well 
worthy of ancient tragedy. The singing of the narrator 
is clear, every word distinct and beautifully modulated. 
The words of any third person in the history of the pas- 
sion come forth spritely, like the speech of a conversa- 
tion, while the words of our blessed Lord are uttered in 
a slow, solemn, grave and dignified manner, beginning 
low and rising by full tones, then changing into rich, 
harmonious music, till they end in graceful cadences 
modulated into more beautiful tones, when the Saviour 
asks a question. This is the way they are sung in all 
parts of the world ; but they are of wonderful beauty in 
the Pope's chapel, for there they are sung by members 
of the papal choir, who are chosen for their rich and 
musical voices, and trained for this purpose. 3 

The choruses are remarkable. When the Jews speak 
in the history of the passion, or when any crowd is made 
to cry out, the choir bursts out with its simple but mas- 

1 Cardinal Wiseman, Holy Week, p. 62 ; Bishop England, Holy Week, Palm Sunday; 
Canon Pope, Holy Week, etc. 2 Card. Wiseman, Holy Wecfe, p. 63. 3 Card. Wiseman, 
Holy Week, pp. 67, 68. 



244 SINGING THE PASSION. 

sive music, and pours forth the ideas with an energy and 
a force which thrill the soul and overcome the feel- 
ings. These choruses were composed by Lewis de Vic- 
toria, 1 of Avila, who lived in the time of the great Pales- 
trina, and the latter did not attempt to alter them, because 
he found them so beautiful and so suited to the Passion. 
When the Jews cry, " Crucify him," or, "Barrabas," the 
choir bursts forth with vehement energy, each syllable 
having a note, but the last word has a passage of key, 
simple yet strikingly impressive, while in most of the 
choruses the singing comes abruptly to an end by a quick 
termination, making the effect wonderfully powerful by 
the rapid stamping, marked manner, well suited to the 
noisy outcries of a furious mob. 

In the third chorus of St. Matthew's Gospel, when the 
two false witnesses give testimony against him, it is a 
duet, one on a high key and the other a lower, with the 
words following one another in a stumbling way, as 
though one took his story from the other, one jarring 
with the other, or trying to imitate the other, aptly rep- 
resenting the words of the gospel that "Their witness 
did not agree." 2 The words, "Hail, King of the Jews," 3 
are sung in an exceeding soft and moving tone, inclining 
the soul to utter in earnest what the Jews said in mock- 
ery. In the Gospel of St. John, sung on Good Friday, 
one or two sentences are most exquisite in tone and 
modulation. They are the words, " If you let him go, 
you are no friend of Caesar's ;" but the most beautiful of 
all are the words of the soldiers, when dividing his gar- 
ment, "Let us not divide it, but cast lots." The words 
follow each other in a falling cadence, becoming softer 
and softer, nearly dying away, till they burst forth into 
a mildly majestic swell of harmonious music. 

Their effect is beyond description. The shortness of 
their length, the rapidity of their movements and their 
sudden breaking forth, produce a feeling of wonder, aston- 
ishment and admiration for their simplicity, beauty and 
overpowering effect. They are arranged according to the 
principle of a deep dramatic design, calculated to pro- 
duce the most solemn and devout impressions on the 
soul. The stately rhythm, the triple chant and the 

: In 1585. 2 Mark xiv. 59. 3 John xix. 3. 



EFFECTS OF SINGING THE PASSION. 245 

choruses, with their poetic feeling, each produces its 
effect. The strong voice in which the historic part is 
given, softens gradually as the catastrophe of the cruci- 
fixion approaches, dying away as the last breath of the 
Lord's life is given up on the cross. When all ends, a 
deep silence fills the church, and the clergy, with the 
whole congregation as one man, fall upon their knees in 
adoration of the Saviour's death. The same feeling fills 
every heart. Every thought goes back to the original 
scene, and every imagination brings before the heart the 
last moments of our Redeemer's life upon the cross, as 
though they were there on Calvary's top, when the world 
was redeemed by the blood of God. 

The gospel is sung with incense after the Passion, 
which recalls the people from their sorrow and woe by 
giving a history of the sealing up of the sepulchre and of 
the resurrection. 

During the four days before his passion, our Lord used to 
spend the nights at the home of Lazarus, Martha and Mary, 
in the village of Bethany, from which each morning he 
went into the city of Jerusalem, and in the temple he 
used to preach to the priests and people. 1 His words 
became more striking and more vigorous, denouncing 
them, with a vehemence that was unusual, for their wick- 
edness, foretelling the destruction of their city for the 
hardness of their hearts. He fasted each day. Once he 
came to a fig tree to find something to eat, and found but 
leaves. He cursed it, when it dried up — a figure of those 
who have good Christian intentions, but who do not put 
them in practice ; they are cursed by God because of 
their infidelity to grace. 

One day he came from the temple toward the evening 
hour and went along on the way to Bethany. Resting 
for a moment on the side of Mount Olives, his disciples 
gathered around him and asked him the time when the 
temple would be destroyed. Uniting in one prophetic 
picture the destruction of the temple, the city of Jerusa- 
lem and the world at the end of time, because one is but 
a figure of the other, in wonderful words he prophesied 
the time when the Romans under Titus would come, forty 
years from that time, and from the very place where he then 

1 Math, xxi., xxii., xxiii, 



246 THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM. 

sat, threaten the holy city, surround it on every side, take 
it, destroy it, level its walls, burn its temple, and not leav- 
ing a stone upon a stone, draw the plow over the spot 
where the temple of Solomon once stood in all its glory. 
From that he passed to the destruction of the world, 
when the number of the saints would be completed ; 
when the world will have run its course ; when the mom 
will be darkened, and the sun refuse to shed its light ; 
when the stars would fall from the vault of heaven; 
when all nature would groan in agony, and when the 
death of the universe will take place as foretold by the 
prophets. 1 

Monday the Station is held in the Church of St. Prax- 
edes, the Church in which in the IXth century St. 
Pascal, the holy Pope, placed the remains of the 2,300 
martyrs taken from the catacombs, and erected the col- 
umn to which our blessed Lord was bound when he was 
scourged. In the Mass the Gospel is taken from St. 
John's narrative, where he speaks of Mary Magdalen 
taking the box of precious ointment and anointing the 
feet of Jesus in the house of Lazarus, her brother. 2 

Tuesday morning, as usual, he went to the temple to 
teach the people, and passing on the way they came to 
the iig tree which had withered away when he told his dis- 
ciples to have faith. Continuing on his way, he came to 
the temple, when the scribes and elders, smarting under 
his rebukes of the day before, asked him by what au- 
thority he did these things. He confounded them by 
asking them from whence came the baptism of John the 
Baptist and its power, 3 and they were afraid to answer 
him, for they feared the people. 

The Station is held on Tuesday in the Church of St. 
Prisca, which was once the house of the holy Acquila 
and Prisca, to whom St. Paul in his epistle to the Eo- 
mans sends his greetings. In the third century, Pope 
St. Eutychianus, because of having the same name, here 
laid the body of St. Prisca, the Eoman virgin and martyr. 

The Passion, according to St. Mark, is said to-day in 
place of the usual gospel ; it is sung in the same way as 
the Passion of St. Matthew on Palm Sunday. 

1 Math. xxiv. ; Mark xiii. ; Luke xxi. 2 John xii. 63. 3 Mark xi. 20. 24. 



JUDAS' TBEASON. 247 

II. — Holy Wednesday. 

On Wednesday the Chief Priests, with the elders of the 
people, gathered together in one of the principal halls of 
the Temple, to see for the last time what could be done 
to put Jesus to death. It was within a few days of their 
Easter festivities, and many strangers were in the city 
to celebrate the feast, and they saw that triumphant pro- 
cession on Palm Sunday. Even some of the influential 
people of Jerusalem believed in him, and they did not 
know what to do, for they feared the people. Many 
projects were offered. While they were thus debating, one 
of the disciples came to the assembly and said : "What 
will you give, and I will deliver him to you ?" x It was Judas 
the traitor. They offered him thirty pieces of silver, a lit- 
tle more than $18.00, smaller than the price of the low- 
est slave. They were filled with joy. They forgot the 
CVIII. Psalm, wherein holy David prophesied the selling 
of the Divine Yictim. That day was spent by our Lord 
in the temple and in the holy city, teaching and preach- 
ing, according to his custom. 

In honor and remembrance of this infamous betrayal 
of the Saviour by Judas, each Ember Season of the year, 
when the Church calls on us to fast, Wednesday is one 
of the fast days to recall Judas' treason. 

The Station of to-day is held in Rome in the great 
church of St. Mary Major, to recall the sorrows of the 
suffering Mother, who saw her Son to-day betrayed by 
the accursed disciple. After the introit and prayers, the 
two lessons are taken from the Prophecy of Isaiah, foretell- 
ing the sufferings and the passion of our Lord. 2 In ancient 
times, the Catechumens were sent out of the Church as 
usual, but when Mass was ended, they returned. Then 
one of the priests said to them : " Next Saturday, the 
eve of Easter, you will at such an hour come to the Lat- 
eran Basilica for the seventh examination, there to recite 
the Creed, so that by the help of God, you may be washed 
in the waters of regeneration. Prepare yourselves with 
zeal and humility, in continual prayer and fasting, so that 
having been buried with Christ by that holy baptism, 
you may rise with Kim unto everlasting life. Amen." 

1 Math. xxvi. 15. 2 Isa. lxii., lxiii, 



248 THE "tenebm." 

To-day the Passion of our Lord, according to St. Luke, 
is read in the same way as on Palm Sunday. 1 

We are now drawing near to the death of the Lord, and 
the Church celebrates that death by the most solemn, 
striking ceremonies of the year. All is sad, sombre, 
mournful. The rites and ceremonies breathe nothing but 
woe. Prom the most ancient times, the clergy have been 
accustomed to recite the Offices of the last of Holy Week 
on the evenings before. Because of this and because of 
the long ceremony of the blessing of the Holy Oils, Matins 
and Lauds of Holy Thursday are said on Wednesday 
evening, those of Friday on Thursday evening, and those 
of Holy Saturday on the evening of Good Friday. These 
Offices are taken from the Breviary, and are called the 
"Tenebrse," that is, darkness, for they used to be said in 
the darkness of the night, or in the darkness of the Cat- 
acombs in the first ages of the Church. They typify the 
darkness of the three hours hanging over the earth, while 
our Lord was dying on the cross. 2 Tenebrse are made 
up of three watches, for the darkness lasted for three 
hours ; from the sixth, that is, at noon, to the ninth hour, 
that is, at three in the afternoon. 3 The darkness of the 
sun was caused by a miracle, not by an eclipse, for the 
feast of Easter among the Jews was celebrated at the 
full moon, when the earth was between the sun and the 
moon, while an eclipse is caused by the moon coming be- 
tween the earth and the sun, the shadow of the moou 
falling upon the earth. The sun was darkened then, foi 
the " Son of justice " was dying for the human race. 4 

The Office of the "Tenebrse" opens on Wednesday 
evening, by the clergy assembling in the church, and 
saying in silence the Lord's Prayer and the Hail Mary, 
which belong to the New Testament, while the anthems, 
the psalms and the lessons are said aloud, because they 
belong to the Old Testament. The first prayers belong- 
ing to the New Testament are said in silence, for they 
were written by the Apostles, who ran away from our 
Lord and kept silence in his Passion, while the Prophets 
of the Old Testament proclaimed aloud his sufferings 
and his death. The saddest and the most solemn of the 



1 Luke xxii. 2 Math, xxyii, 45, 3 Mark xv. 33, 4 Durandus, Rationale Div, 1, v% 
C. lxxii. n. 2, 



THE LAMENTATIONS. " 249 

psalms are said, three for each watch. No hymn is said, 
no blessing asked, no chapter read, for there is no 
thought in the mind of the Church "but Jesus Christ, 
and him crucified. 1 

The first lesson of Thursday, Friday and Saturday, 
is taken from the lamentations of Jeremiah, the prophet 
of sorrows. 2 Each verse of these sad lamentations is 
divided by one of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, 
to show to the Jews that the history of the sufferings and 
the death of our Lord were as plain as the alphabet in 
the prophecies of the Old Testament, 3 and because each 
of the letters signify and told the Jews a truth which we 
will not stop now to explain. 4 

Jeremiah sits weeping over the holy city of Jerusalem, 
captured by the Assyrians. 5 In the Bible, Jerusalem 
means " The vision of peace," 6 and in the strong figurative 
language of the Eastern nations, and in the mysticism of 
the Holy Scriptures, it means the Holy Church desolate, 
weeping over the death of her Founder and her Lord. 
Again, Jerusalem signifies heaven, and represents all 
heaven aghast at the sight of the Lord and Creator put to 
death by ungrateful men. 

The music of the lamentations of Wednesday and Friday 
evenings was arranged by the great Palestrina. Noth- 
ing ever heard can compare with it in exquisite tender- 
ness, rich pathos and indescribable woe. The music of 
this lamentation, sung on Thursday, was composed by 
Allegri, and it is even equal to that of Palestrina. 7 The 
lamentations are sung by one of the clergymen, chosen 
for his musical voice. In the middle of the sanctuary 
he sings, with his face turned toward the altar. Each 
lamentation ends with " Jerusalem, Jerusalem, be con- 
verted to the Lord thy God ;" a sad and sorrowful appeal 
to the Jews to return again to their Lord whom they put 
to death. 8 

No words can tell the indescribable effect of these la- 
mentations on the soul of the Christian. Sometimes 
tears flow down the cheeks of the people in the churches, 
listening to the sad and woful lamentations of Jeremiah, 

1 I. Cor. ii. 2. a j er . \ j. s Durandus, Eat. Div. 1. vi. c. lxxii. n. 14. * See El 
Porque do las Ceremonias, c. xxx., Reg. gen. etc. 5 El Porque de las Ceremonias 
cxxx. ; Jueves Santo en post. 6 S. Aug. D. Clvit. Dei. 1. xix. c. xi. 7 Card. Wise 
man's Holy Week, p. 95, 8 El Porque de lus Ceremonias, c. xxx. Reg. gen. etc. 



250 CEREMONIES OF THE 

as the sorrowful tones of the great composers flow out 
from the sanctuary, and are re-echoed from the vaulted 
roofs of the churches, striking deep into the ears of the 
clergy and the people, and bringing all minds back to the 
sad tragedy of Calvary. 

Before the Office begins, six candles of unbleached 
beeswax are lighted on the altar, three on each side, and 
on a triangle on the epistle side are fourteen more, with 
one of bleached wax on the top. The Blessed Sacrament 
before, has been taken to another altar prepared for it. 1 
The Church is now entering into the deepest mysticism. 
Let us understand these ceremonies. In the ceremonies 
of the Temple at Jerusalem they sang fifteen psalms as 
they ascended the fifteen steps leading up to the holy 
place, 2 signifying the fifteen grades of virtue, which make 
man perfect. In the Office of to-day, we sing fifteen 
psalms in honor and in remembrance of the perfect man 
Jesus Christ, who was put to death. He is the light of 
the world, and to signify the light of his heavenly teach- 
ings, which is perpect, the fifteen candles are lighted 
on the triangle, which typify the Holy Trinity. A candle 
is put out after each psalm, to typify the sufferings of 
the perfect Man, our Lord. The fourteen of unbleached 
wax tell us of his human nature. The one of white 
bleached wax on top signifies his Divine nature. All 
the unbleached candles are put out, to tell that his hu- 
man nature died. The white candle on top is not 
quenched, to show that his Divine nature did not die. 
It is hidden behind the altar for a few moments,* and 
brought back and placed again on the triangular candle- 
stick, to show that his Divine nature was hidden for a 
time in his passion. 3 Light is a sign of joy. 4 They 
are put out, to signify that there is no joy in the Church 
celebrating the death of our Lord. 

Some writers of the early times say that the put- 
ting out of the fourteen candles represents the Apos- 
tles, and the three holy women 5 leaving our Lord and hid- 
ing themselves during his passion, 6 while his holy Mother, 
figured by the pure white candle, 7 never left him till, 

i Cast. 1. iii, S. vi. c. i. n. 1. c. 2. Mer. S. vi. c. xiii. n. 1. 2 S. Aug. vol. xiii. 82. 3 El 
Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Reg. gen. etc. 4 Claudius, Expenc. de Euthar. 
Cult. c. ii. p. 16, 90. 5 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Reg. gen. etc. 6 Du- 
randus, Rationale, Div, L. vi, c. lxxii. n, 18. "■ El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx, 
Reg. gen. para, etc. 



MEANING- OF THE CEREMONIES. 251 

overwhelmed with grief, she retired for a time, still hop- 
ing in him, till she met him filled with joy after the res- 
urrection, signified by the hiding of the candle behind the 
altar. 1 There are seven candles on each side of the tri- 
angular candlestick, for the candlestick in the Holy of 
Holies in the temple had seven lights burning before 
the Lord. From it the Christians took the custom of 
the lights of the "Tenebrse." "Those candles then," 
says another writer, "recall the lights of the patriarchs 
and the prophets of the law of nature and of the law of 
Moses, prophesying the Messiah, before whose trans- 
cendent effulgence they paled and went out, or the 
prophets of the Old Testament put to death by the 
Jews." 2 

In the middle ages, before the Latin rite was carried 
out in all its purity, the number of candles on the tri- 
angle was not the same everywhere. In Canterbury, in 
England, they had twenty-five, to represent the twelve 
minor and the twelve major prophets of the Old Testa- 
ment. 3 The candles were in some places put out with a 
wet sponge, to recall the sponge with which the vinegar 
and gall were given our Lord to drink. Again, they wqre 
in some places quenched with a wax hand, to symbolize 
the traitor hand of Judas, handing our Lord over to 
the Jews. 4 In other churches they had seventy-two 
candles, to typify the seventy-two disciples, who ran 
away from our Lord in his sufferings. 5 The seven 
candles, on each side of the triangle, represent the 
seven gifts of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of the 
Jews and the Apostles. The sanctuary is divided into 
two sides, the left and the right. The left typifies the 
Jews, and the right the Christians. Both the Jews and 
the Apostles doubted his Divinity during his passion. 

The large white candle on the top of the triangle is 
Christ, made of bleached beeswax coming from virgin 
bees. It figures his body coming from his "Virgin Mother. 
Made of bleached wax, it tells of his body glorified after 
his passion. The wick signifies his soul in that body. 
The burning flame tells of the glories of the Divinity, 

1 Card. Turre, Cremata de Eccl. c. 30, see Suarez de Fide, Spe. et Char. Disp. 96, 3 ; 
Canon Pope, Holy Week in the Vatican, p. 75. 2 Rupertus, lv. de Div. Of. c. 26, 28. 
3 Lafranc. 4 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Reg. gen. etc.; Canon Pope, 
Ibidem, p. 76. 5 Dnrandus Rationale, Div. L. lxxii. n. 26, 



252 MYSTICISM OF THE " TENEBR^I." __^ 

such as appeared to Moses in the burning bush, and to 
the three Apostles, during the transfiguration. Light in 
the Bible, signifies wisdom and knowledge. The light of 
that candle typifies the wisdom and the knowledge of 
God which our Lord taught the world. The candle is 
hidden, for he hid his Divinity in his passion. It comes 
again from under the altar, for he came from the Sepul- 
chre to enlighten the world with his wisdom. 1 In the 
services of the church the altar represents the tomb of 
our Lord, and the candle is hidden behind it to show in 
mystic meaning his death and burial in the tomb. Only 
the upper candle is of bleached wax, for neither the 
prophets' nor the Apostles' bodies are yet glorified 
in heaven, only our Lord and his mother have gone, 
body and soul, into that abode of bliss. 2 

The candles are put out at the end of each of the 
Psalms of Matins and of Lauds. The Lesson of the 
Second Nocturn is taken from the writings of St. Augus- 
tine, 3 where he speaks of our Lord. The Passion Lesson 
of the third Nocturn is taken from St. Paul to the Corin- 
thians, 4 where he speaks of the institution of the Blessed 
Eucharist. At Lauds, the Canticle of Moses takes the 
place of the next to the last Psalm, where he sings so 
gloriously of the delivery of the children of Israel from 
the hosts of Pharoah, a figure of the Christians delivered 
from the power of hell by our Lord, of whom Moses was a 
figure. All rise and face the altar when they sing the Can- 
ticle of Zachary, 5 because the altar signifies Christ, to 
whom the sacred words are addressed. This magnificent 
piece of Hebrew poetry is composed of twelve verses. 
At the beginning of the seventh verse, the last candle on 
the right hand side of the altar is put out, and' at the 
next verse the last on the left is quenched, and so on till 
at the last verse the last candle next the tabernacle is 
put out, so that all the lights in the church are put out 
except those burning before the Blessed Sacrament, 6 and 
the bleached candle on the top of the triangle. While the 
Anthem of the Canticle is sung, the white candle is taken 
from the top of the triangle and placed upon the altar, 
signifying Christ on Calvary, for the altar is like another 

1 Cardinal Bellarmin, t. 2, Cont. L. iii. deEccl. Mil. c. 17, Abulensis Qu. 14. 2 Du- 
randus Rationale Div. L. vi. c. lxxii. n. 26. 3 In Ps. liv. ad vi. 4 I. Cor, c. xi, 5 Luke 
i. 6 Caerem, Epis. 1. ii. c. xxii. n, 11. 



254 THE "MISERERE." 

Calvary, 1 where he is sacrificed in a mystic manner every 
day in the Mass. At the words, " Christ for us became 
obedient unto death," the candle is hidden under the 
altar to typify his death and burial. In a moment it is 
brought forth to show that he came forth from the grave 
in the glories of the resurrection. Before this, the can- 
dles on the altar were extinguished, to show that all faith 
in him was gone from the hearts of both the Jews and 
the Apostles, whom the Epistle and Gospel sides repre- 
sent. 

At the "Tenebrse" of Wednesday, the verse is as 
above. 2 In the Friday Office it is " Christ for us became 
obedient unto death, even to the death of the cross." 
The Office of Saturday coming near to the resurrection, it 
is, " Christ for us became obedient unto death, even to 
the death of the cross, for that reason God exalted him 
and gave him a name which is above every name." At 
the beginning of these words, each day, all kneel to wor- 
ship our Lord dying for us. In some churches, at these 
words, they used to prostrate themselves on the ground. 

Then begins the Psalm : " Have mercy on me, O God !"■ 
etc.; 3 it is sung in the most wonderfully sublime manner. 
There are three ways of singing it, the productions of the 
three great composers, Tomaso Baj, Giuseppe Baina and 
Allegri. The one composed by Allegri 4 is surpassingly 
beautiful, and is called a wonderful piece of music. 5 All 
then say in silence the Lord's Prayer, and without the 
usual " Let us pray," for all are struck with the thought 
of our Lord praying on the cross. Tradition tells us that 
while dying, he recited the seven penitential Psalms, till 
he came to the "words : " Into thy hands, O Lord, I com- 
mend my spirit," when bowing down his head, he gave 
up the ghost. The chief among the clergy then says : 
"Look down, we beseech thee, O Lord, on this thy fam- 
ily, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ wavered not to de- 
liver himself into the hands of his enemies, and suffer 
the torment of the Cross, who with thee liveth and 
reigneth in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, for ever 
and ever, Amen." The last sentence is said in silence in 
remembrance of the silence of our Lord in death on Cal- 



1 Gueranger, L'An. Liturg. Pas. et La Semaine S. p. 345. 2 Christ for us was, etc. 
3 Ps. 1, 4 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 99. 5 Canon Pope, Holy Week in the Vati- 
can, p. 77. 



MAUNDY THURSDAY. 255 

vary when he died. All then strike the benches for a 
moment to recall the earthquake which shook the earth 
when our Lord died. 1 

Nothing ever seen or heard of the same nature, can 
equal the sad, doleful and woful effect of these rites and 
ceremonies, when we celebrate each year the funeral of 
our Lord. In order that no other ceremony may distract 
the minds of the people from the yearly funeral services 
of our Lord, from Holy Thursday till Monday after 
Easter, no funeral mass is allowed in the church, not even 
when the body is present. 2 We celebrate the Offices of 
the Tenebrae three days, for three days and nights our 
Lord lay in the tomb. 

III. — Holy Thursday. 

Many rites and ceremonies are held in the Church on 
Holy Thursday. To-day the Oils used in conferring the 
sacraments 3 during the rest of the year are blessed. 
Mass is said in remembrance of the last supper. 4 The 
blessed Sacrament is carried to the altar, where it is 
kept for the adoration of the people, in memory of our 
Lord's body laid in the tomb. The feet of thirteen are 
washed, following the example of the Saviour washing 
the feet of his Apostles. In former times the public 
penitents were received again into the Church. 

We will see first, the ceremonies of the blessing of the 
Holy Oils. The size of this book will not allow us to go 
into detail. We can give but a few ideas relating to 
these ceremonies. Following the Apostolic traditions 
on Holy Thursday, by order of Pope Fabian, 5 the Oils 
must be blessed each year by the bishops 6 and given to 
the priests. The old Oils must be burned, for after the 
new Oils are blessed, the old cannot be used. 7 It is not 
necessary to take the Oils to be blessed to-day from the 
last year's crop of olives. 8 The Oils are blessed on Holy 
Thursday, because the Chrism and the Oil of the cate- 
chumens are used in solemn baptism, which is conferred 
on Holy Saturday, and therefore it is right that they be 

i Benedictus XIV. de Mat. Tenebrarum, n. 9, ad Finem. 2 Ordo Nota Dom. Pal. 
a Mentioned by S. Aug. De Bap. Contra Donat, n. 28. 4 El Porque de las Ceremonias, 
c. xxx. Missa Solem. 5 236 to 246 ; 6 Concil. Antis. c. 6. et Tholetan, et cet. c. 20, 
S. Thomas, lxxii. 3. 7 S. E. C. Sept. 160 i. 8 S, R. C. 22 March, 1862 to Bishop of St. 
Paul, Min, 



256 THE HOLY OILS. 

blessed two days before, so that they can be distributed 
through the diocese. "It behooves that the material 
for the sacraments be blessed the day when the sacra- 
ment of the Eucharist was instituted to which all the 
other sacraments relate," 1 " because two days before the 
Pasch, Mary anointed the feet of the Lord." 2 

Everywhere the consecration of the Oils takes place 
on this day, nor can bishops bless the Oils at any other 
time, 3 but if there be not enough of the Holy Oils, they 
can be got from neighboring bishops. 4 When the bishop 
of the diocese is sick, absent, or for any reason he cannot 
bless the Oils, he must either invite another bishop to 
come, or send them to some neighboring bishop to be 
blessed. 5 When .this cannot be done, the Oils of last 
year may be used, putting in a little less than the con- 
secrated Oil, because this privilege was given to the 
bishops in the Vatican council by Pope Pius XL This 
is what is to be done, for the Oils cannot be consecrated 
on any other day without a special permission from 
Eome, while the Holy Oils remaining in the vases in the 
Cathedral must be burned before the Blessed Sacrament, 
when the new Oils are consecrated. 6 

The consecration of the Holy Oils should take place 
in the most beautiful chapel in the Cathedral, if there be 
one of this kind, otherwise in the sanctuary with the 
Blessed Sacrament removed to another altar, for the 
ceremony could not be carried out before our Lord with 
due reverence. The consecration of the Oils cannot 
take place in a private chapel in the Episcopal resi- 
dence, 7 neither in a parish church without sufficient 
reason, but publicly in the Cathedral, 8 except when for 
a just reason the bishop lives elsewhere. 

In former times, three Masses were said on Holy 
Thursday, one for the reception of the public penitents, 
the second for the consecration of the Holy Oils, and the 
third in honor of the institution of the Blessed Sacra- 
ment. At the present time there is only one High Mass 
offered up to-day, 9 because the piety of the people has 
grown weak, and they do not keep up the custom of 

i St. Thomas p. 3, q. 72, a. 12, ad. 3. 2 St. Isidore, Ep. His. de Eccl. Off. L. i. c. 28. 
3 S. R. 0. 23 Sept. 1837, Oriolen I. 4 S. R. C. 27 Sept. 1864, Niver. 6 S. R. C. 13 June, 
1695, dubia 2 6 Pontif. Rom. T. V. in Taena Dora. 7 S. R. C. 21 June, 1862, Torcel. 
8 jS. R. C 23 March, 1669, Brug. 9 O'Brien,. Hist, of the Mass, p. 17, 



ANOINTED. 257 

doing public penance, as in the Apostolic times. 1 Dur- 
ing the Mass, the cross on the altar before which the 
Oils are consecrated, which from the vesper time before 
Passion Sunday was covered with a violet veil as a sign 
of penance, is now covered by a white veil as a sign of 
joy, for on this day we celebrate the institution of the 
most Holy Eucharist and of the Mass at the Last Supper. 

From ancient times the consecration of the Holy Oils 
takes place at the one Mass in the Cathedral, said by the 
bishop, and by no one but him can the oils be conse- 
crated. The first to be consecrated is the Oil for the 
sick. It forms the material for the Sacrament of Extreme 
Unction, for when any one is in danger of death by sick- 
ness, we anoint him with the Holy Oil, blessed this day, 
according to the words of St. James the Apostle: "Is 
any man sick among you? Let him bring in the 
priests of the Church, and let them pray over him, 
anointing him with oil, in the name of the Lord, and 
the prayer of faith shall save the sick man ; and the Lord 
shall raise him up ; and if he be in sins, they shall be 
forgiven him." 2 In former ages the benediction of the 
Oil for the sick took place at any time during the year ; 
but because it is so like the other Oils, in later times it 
is blessed on Holy Thursday. For that reason it is not 
blessed with the other two, but before them. 3 

The greatest of the Holy Oils is the Chrism, a Greek 
word, which means anointed with oil. From that comes 
Christ, 4 one of the holy names of our Lord, for in many 
parts of the Bible he is called the Anointed of the 
Lord, that is, he was anointed in an invisible way by 
the Holy Ghost. 5 Following the example of our Saviour, 
all members of the Church are baptized as he was, in the 
Jordan, and at their baptism they are anointed like 
him with Holy Chrism, and again they are anointed 
with Chrism, at their confirmation. 

The third is the Oil of the Catechumens. The Catechu- 
mens are those who are preparing to be admitted into 
the Church by baptism, and are learning the truths of 
the Christian religion. Although it is not the material 
of any Sacrament, nevertheless like the other two Oils it 

1 Gueranger, la Passion et La Semaine Sainte, p. 401. 2 James v, 14, 15. 3 Guer- 
anger, la Passion et la Semaine Ste., p. 409. 4 St. Aua:. vol. xi. 151, vol. xv. 368, Enar, 
in Ps, cviii. n. 26, s St. Aug. De Trinitate^lxv. n. 46 in fine. 



258 CONSECRATION OF THE OILS. 

comes down to us from the Apostles. It is named the 
Oil of the Catechumens, for it is used to anoint their 
breasts and shoulders, before they are washed in the 
waters of baptism. It is also used at the ordination of 
priests, to anoint their hands, and to anoint the heads 
of emperors and empresses, of kings and of queens, 
when they are crowned. 

Of all the ceremonies of the year, the consecration 
of the Holy Oils is one of the most beautiful, and the 
ceremonies are deeply mystical. We can give but a few 
of them, and for the others we refer the reader to the 
Pontifical. Twelve priests, representing the twelve Apos- 
tles around our Saviour, stand around the bishop, who 
takes the place of our Lord, and in his name and by his 
power consecrates the Oils. Seven deacons and seven 
sub-deacons must be present, signifying the seven dea- 
cons chosen by the Apostles. 1 Priests, deacons, and sub- 
deacons are clothed in their sacred vestments, there to 
be witnesses of the ceremonies, and in the name of the 
Church to testify that the Oils are correctly consecrated. 
In no case will the Church allow the ceremony with a 
smaller number of clergymen. 2 When a sufficient num- 
ber are not present, the bishop can command them to 
come, 3 or call some of the clergy of the Religious Or- 
ders.* When there are not enough in the whole diocese, 
only with the permission of the Pope can the ceremony 
take place. 5 This is to keep to the traditions of the 
Apostles, and because the Church will not change in her 
rites and ceremonies. 

The clergy, vested in white or golden vestments, in 
honor of the Blessed Sacrament instituted to-day, go to 
the Cathedral, where the bishop says the Mass till he 
comes to the words of the twelfth part of the Canon, 
"Through whom, O Lord, good things thou doest always 
create," when he comes down from the altar and takes his 
seat. One of the sub-deacons goes to the vestry, and tak- 
ing the vase of oil, he covers it with a violet veil, and 
carries it to the arch-deacon, who presents it to the 
bishop, saying : " The oil for the sick." 

The vase of oil is brought from the vestry, for in the 



1 Acts vi. 2 R. S. C. 9 May, 1606, Lauret. 3 R. S. C. March, 1679, Sur. * R , S . (j. 
Nov. 11, 1641, Rith. 5 R. S, C. Jan. 24, 1845 ; Jan. 23, 1644 ; March 22, 1862. 



TYPICAL MEANINGS. 259 

first ages of the Church the people brought their gifts of 
oil, bread and wine, to the vestry, from which the oils for 
consecration were chosen. The oil is carried by the 
sub-deacon, for he represents the Old Testament, in 
which the Holy Oils were typified. They must be of 
the purest olive oil, figured by the olive branch brought 
to Noah in the ark, and by the dove, a figure of the Holy 
Ghost overshadowing our Lord at his baptism. 1 The 
purest olive oil was always burning in the lamp before 
the Lord in the tabernacle. 2 The hands of the priests 
of the Israelites, their vestments, the altar of holocaust, 
the unleavened wafers of bread, the tabernacle of the 
Lord with all its utensils, the heads of Aaron and of the 
high priests, the heads of Saul, of David, of Solomon and 
of all the kings of Israel, were anointed with oil. What 
does that oil signify but the Holy Ghost, 3 who anointed 
our blessed Lord? The ceremonies of the Old Law pre- 
figured the Holy Oils in our ceremonies. The sub- 
deacon figuring the Old Law comes with the vase of oil 
covered with a violet veil, representing the ceremonies of 
the consecration of the Oils coming from the Old Testa- 
ment, wherein our holy rites were as it were covered. 
The vase of oil is covered with a violet veil to typify pen- 
ance for our sins. Moses, and Christ, whom he represented, 
was not anointed with material oil, but like Christ, in 
an unseen manner. 4 Aaron was anointed with oil, for he 
was a type of the bishop, who like him, is anointed on his 
head the day of his consecration. With beautiful pray- 
ers, then the bishop consecrates the Oil for the sick. 

The bishop, with his ministers, then returns to the 
altar and continues the Mass. From the earlier ages the 
clergy have been in the habit of receiving Holy Com- 
munion from the hands of the bishop, in remembrance 
of the Apostles receiving the body and blood of our 
Lord from his hands at the last supper. No priest is 
allowed to say a private Mass on Holy Thursday, except 
it be urgent. 5 The priests wear their stoles while re- 
ceiving, as a sign of their priesthood. Three chalices 
have been prepared for the services. One is used for 
the Mass ; one is to receive the second Host, to be kept 

1 Math. iii. 16. 2 Exod. xxvii. 20, Levit. xxiv. 2. 3 St. Aug. Enar. in Ps. cviii. n. 
26. 4 Durandus, Kationale Div. L. i. c. viii, n. 2, 5 Gueranger, la Pas. et le Seiu. S, 
p. 424. 



260 CONSECRATION RITES. 

in the repository for Good Friday ; and the third is for 
the washing of the bishop's fingers, before the consecra- 
tion of the oil for the sick. 1 Having placed the Host re- 
served for the morrow in the chalice on the altar, which 
has from the beginning of the Mass been lighted up with 
a large number of candles, the bishop again comes down 
to his seat. No kiss of peace is given, because with a 
kiss to-day, Judas betrayed our Lord. Having put 
incense in the thurible, at the words of the arch- 
deacon, the twelve priests and the seven deacons go 
to the vestry to get the oil for Holy Chrism and the oil 
for the Catechumens to be consecrated while the choir 
sings the hymn: " O, Redeemer," etc., composed in the 
fifth century, by Fortunatus, bishop of Poitiers. 2 A sub- 
deacon carries the vase of balsam, and two deacons the 
two vases of oil. They all come into the sanctuary, 
where the bishop with his ministers have been waiting. 
The oils are consecrated during the Mass, for it is 
right that these creatures, made holy for the spiritual 
good of the people, should be consecrated during the 
Mass, wherein are typified the sufferings and death of 
our Lord, who died for the people. 3 The two lights are 
carried on each side of the oils to recall the law and the 
prophecy of the Old Testament, in which consecrated 
oils were used by command of God, 1 while the burning- 
incense tells of our prayers, which make the Sacraments 
given by these Holy Oils, more powerful for our salva- 
tion. The clergy coming, two by two, recall the disci- 
ples sent two by two into the cities of Judea to preach 
salvation, which is worked by the sacraments given to 
the people by the consecrated oils. Thus the deepest 
mysticism and mystery surround these holy rites. The 
vase of oil typifies our Lord himself, 5 for from him comes 
the graces which by the sacraments given by these con- 
secrated oils will flow into the souls of the people. 6 The 
vase is carried covered, signifying the clothes he wore. 
It is carried on the left arm, for the left is this world in 
which our Lord lived. The vase is uncovered at the altar, 
for he was stripped of his garments at Calvary, represented 



1 De Herdt, Pont. L. iii. n. 10. 2 Pontif. Roman, de Of. in Fer. v. c. Dom. ; Guer- 
anger, la Pas. et la Sem. Ste. p. 416. 3 Durandus, Rationale Div. L. vi. lxxiv. n. 6. 
4 Durand. Ibidem, n. 16. 5 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Bened. de la Pila. 
6 Rupertus Abbas, L. y. de Divinis Of. c. 12, 



WHY OIL IS USED. 261 

by the altar. It is carried between two priests, to tell of 
Christ between Moses and Elias on Tabor's mount, in 
the transfiguration. 

Our Lord chose oil for the materials of the sacra- 
ments, because, as by the waters of baptism we are 
washed from sin, so by the oils we are given strength 
and power. Oil, in the words of Isidore, comes from the 
olive tree, which tells of peace, to tell of the peace of the 
soul when free from sin. It is used as a food to give 
strength, and the sacraments given by it gives us spir- 
itual strength ; when burned it gives light, for the sac- 
raments give light to our souls. The ghostly powers of 
this oil was foretold by Israel's prophet king, in the 
words : " O taste and see that the Lord is sweet," 1 in the 
Sacraments of his church drawing their wondrous 
power "from the fountains of the Saviour. 2 " Olive oil is 
sweet to the taste, balsam is sweet to the smell, and 
these two tell of the sweetness of heavenly wisdom, and 
the teachings of faith, which are given in the sacraments 
infused into our souls by these Holy Oils. 3 

We read that the Apostles anointed with oil many 
that were sick and healed them ; 4 that Jesus anointed 
the eyes of the man born blind f that according to the 
prophecy of Isaiah, 6 our Lord was anointed to preach 
the Gospel ; 7 that Mary Magdalen anointed his feet be- 
fore his death; 8 that when they fasted, they were to 
anoint their heads ; 9 and that with sweetly smelling oils 
and spices, they came to anoint the body of our Lord 
when laid in the tomb. 10 From this we know that the 
custom of anointing with oil came to us from the Jews 
and from the Apostles. 

When the oils are brought to him, with beautiful pray- 
ers the bishop beseeches God to send down his bless- 
ings and his power on the oils. He mixes the oil and 
balsam and prays, that as the human and the divine na- 
tures were united in Christ, thus may the union of these 
fluids, which represent that union in our Lord, give 
grace to man made of soul and body, and that the oil 
may give to all the graces of the Holy Ghost. Continuing, 
he prays over the Chrism, recalling its figures in the Old 

1 Ps. xxxiii. 9. 2 Isa. xii. 3. 3 Duraudus, Rationale Div. L. i. c. viL et. L. vi. c. lxxiv. 
* Mark vi. 13. 5 John ix. 6. 6 Is. lxi. 1. 7 Luke iv. 18. 8 Luke vii. 38. 9 Math. vi. 
17. 10 Mark xvi. 1. 



262 CONSECRATION CEREMONIES. 

Testament with which priests, prophets, kings and mar- 
tyrs were anointed in the old law. 

The bishop first, then each of the twelve priests, 
breathe three times upon the oil, because it signifies 
the Holy Ghost ; because it is to receive the Holy Ghost, 
who like a wind moved the waters at creation, and who was 
sent upon the Apostles in a mighty wind, 1 prefigured 
when our Lord breathed upon them. 2 

The clergy breathe three times on the oils, because 
the three most holy persons of the Trinity are to work 
the wonders of salvation by the sacraments given by 
these oils. 3 The oils are addressed three times in the 
words, "Hail, Holy Chrism!" " Hail, Holy Oil !" as when 
the Apostle St. Andrew was brought to be crucified, he 
hailed his cross from afar, saying, " Hail, precious cross." 4 
Three times they are thus saluted, for it is not the oils 
precisely which we address, but the power and the vir- 
tue of the three times Holy Christ and the Holy Ghost, 
who use these Holy Oils as means for the salvation of 
mankind. We thus salute them as so many types of 
Christ our Lord and of the Holy Ghost. 5 "We must 
reverence holy things because of their holiness, for they 
are set apart for divine worship, whence the respect 
given them by its very nature rests in God. 6 

Balsam is mixed with the Oil of Holy Chrism, for the 
sweet smell of the balsam tells of the sweet odor of our 
good Christian works. 7 From the earliest ages the pre- 
cious balsam of Palestine or of the Indies has been used, 
but the American balsam will do. 8 

The Oil of Catechumens is used for the blessing of the 
baptismal font, in the sacrament of baptism, in conse- 
crating churches and altars in the ordination of priests, 
and in the blessing and crowning of kings and queens. 
The oil for the sick is used in anointing the sick, when 
in danger of death, and in the blessing of bells. Holy 
Chrism is used in the sacraments of baptism and confir- 
mation, in the consecration of bishops and of chalices and 
patens, and also with the oil of the sick in the blessing of 
bells. 9 



1 Acts ii. 2 Durandus, Rationale Div. L. vi. c Ixxiv. n. 20. 3 Durandus. ibidem. 
4 Benedict XIV. De Pest., D. N. J. C, Cap. vi.. n. 66. 5 Bellarmin, t. iii., cont. 1. 2, c. 13; 
Tournely de Sac. Confir. A. III., p. 501 ; El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Bened. 
de la Pila, etc. 6 Bellotte, p. 791, n. 4. 7 Durandus, Rationale Div. L. i. c. vii., n. 3. 
8 De Hert. 9 Pontif. Bom. S. P. Clementis VIII. et Urban VIIL, inBenedicti XIV. De 
Festis D. N. J. Christi, c. vi. n. 59. 



MASS ON HOLY THURSDAY. 263 

The Mass of Holy Thursday is in remembrance of the 
Last Supper. Following the words of our Lord, " Do this 
for a commemoration of me," 1 we say this Mass to re- 
call to our minds that time when the Master and his dis- 
ciples eat the paschal lamb to fulfil the law of Moses, 
when they lay on couches around the table, according to 
the manners of the ancients, when the Lord in wondrous 
humility washed his disciples' feet, but above all when 
he instituted the holy Mass, ordained his Apostles 
priests, and gave his Body and his Blood for the life of 
the world. That "large dining hall," wherein these 
wonders took place in the time of Christ, is seen to-day 
in Jerusalem, and lately the Turks have given leave to 
the Christians on a few occasions to offer up the Holy 
Sacrifice in the very spot where the first Mass was offered 
by the most sacred hands of our Lord himself. 

The Mass of Holy Thursday is one of the most solemn 
of the year, and was formerly celebrated in the evening ; 2 
but because the ceremonies of the blessing of the Holy 
Oils last so long, the feast of the Blessed Sacrament, in- 
stituted to-day by our Lord, is put off till the feast of 
Corpus Christi. The violet vestments of penance and of 
sorrow give place to white, in honor of the Blessed Sac- 
rament instituted to-day by our Lord at the last supper. 
The angelic hymn, " Glory be to God in the highest," 
silent since Septuagesima Sunday, breaks forth in all its 
gladness. 3 The bells, 4 whose joyous tones are hushed 
during Holy Week, now for the last time tinkle through 
the church or peal from the steeple. 5 The sad and som- 
bre rites commemorating our Saviour's sufferings, give 
place to gladsome ceremonies. A light breaks forth 
through the gloom of Holy Week, to tell that "when he 
had loved his own, who were in the world, he loved them 
to the end," by giving himself to them in the Sacrament 
of his love, the Blessed Eucharist. 

The holy Sacrifice pursues its course. No bell, with 
silvery tones to tell us of joy and gladness, will be heard, 
till the Angelic Hymn is sung in the Mass of Holy Sat- 
urday. The Church, the widowed Church, is weeping 
for the death of her spouse. All ceremonies breathe the 

1 Luke xxii. 19. 2 S. Augustine VI. Concil.'Carthage, etc. 3 El Porqne de las Cere- 
monias, c. xxx. Misa Solun. 4 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. 5 O'Brien, Hist, 
of the Mass. p. 152. 



264 HOLY THUKSDAY. 

deepest sorrow for the murder of our beloved. We are 
drawing near to Calvary. The celebrant at the altar on 
Holy Thursday consecrates two hosts, one for the sacri- 
fice of to-day, the other for the morrow, for on Good Fri- 
day no Mass is offered up through the world. The sec- 
ond host is carried in solemn procession to the place 
called the Repository, where, amid the burning candles, 
the blooming flowers, and the adoring people, it is kept 
till the morrow, when, in another solemn procession, it 
will be carried to the high altar again, for the ceremo- 
nies of the Presanctified. 

At Rome, the Station is in the Lateran Basilica, because 
the ceremonies of the blessing of the Oils, the receiving 
of the penitents and the washing of the feet, require that 
they be carried out in the mother Church of Rome and 
of the world, and such has been the custom since the 
time when Constantine gave the Lateran Palace as a resi- 
dence to S. Silvester and to the Popes. 1 

The Epistle is taken from St. Paul to the Corinthians, 2 
where he speaks of the Blessed Eucharist, while the 
Gospel is from St. John, because he speaks of the washing 
of the disciples' feet 3 at the Last Supper. 4 

During the rest of Lent, vespers or the evening song 
of praises to the Lord follow after Mass. While the 
choir is chanting the vesperal service, the celebrant, with 
the deacon and sub-deacon, take off the holy cloths cov- 
ering the altars. The altar represents our Lord, and the 
stripping of the altar tells how he was stripped of his 
garments when he was put to death. 5 In ancient times 
they washed the altar. Now in St. Peter's, Rome, the 
Canons wash the grand altar with seven flagons of wine 
and water. We find St. Isidore, of Seville, mentions that 
ceremony in the Yllth century. It is still practiced by the 
Greeks and by many of the religious orders of the 
Church. 6 It is in remembrance of our Lord washing the 
feet of his disciples. 

The Popes and bishops from the most remote times, 7 
from the very days of the Apostles, wash the feet of 
twelve 8 or thirteen persons, following the example of the 
Saviour at the Last Supper. 9 Stripping off their sacer- 

1 Les Plus Belles Eglises du Monde, p. 40. 2 II. Cor. xi. 3 El Porque, c. xxx. Misa G. 
* John xiii. 5 Gucranger, La Pas. et La. Sem. Ste., p. 446. 6 Card. Wiseman, Holy 
Week, p. 107. 7 S. Aug. Epist. lv., n. 23. 8 S. Aug. Epist. lv. n. xxxiii, 9 S. Aug. In 
Joan, t. lviii. n. 4. 



WASHING THE FEET. 265 

dotal robes 1 and girding themselves with a towel, they 
wash and kiss the feet of the poor. Such is the example 
of the humility given by the Pope each Holy Thursday 
in the Vatican. It has always been a custom of the east- 
ern nations to wear sandals, and after the journey of the 
day, it is most refreshing to have the feet washed, but 
when it is done by the host himself, it is considered to 
be the highest honor one can receive ; and therefore 
we can understand the wonderful humility of our Lord 
in washing the feet of his disciples. In the beginning of 
the Christian religion, the washing of the feet was a 
common custom. St. Paul, writing to Timothy, speaks 
of the Christian widow, and how she washed the feet of 
the saints. 2 In the first six centuries, we find the wash- 
ing of the feet mentioned in the lives of the Saints, in the 
Homilies of the Fathers, and in the writings of the great 
men of that olden time. From the monks in the monas- 
teries to the kings upon their thrones, they washed the 
feet of the poor. The pious Robert, King of France, and 
great St. Louis, the saintly King of France, washed each 
year the feet of the beggars. The holy princesses, Mar- 
garet of Scotland and Elizabeth of Hungary, yearly per- 
formed the ceremony of washing the feet. 

The feet of twelve are washed to represent the twelve 
apostles, but the Pope washes the feet of thirteen, of as 
many different nations. Some say that the number thir- 
teen represents the complete College of the Apostles, 
Mathias having been elected in the place of Judas ; others, 
that the thirteenth tells of St. Paul, the Apostle of the 
nations ; still others, with Benedict XIV., 3 say that Pope 
Gregory the Great 4 washed each year the feet of twelve 
poor beggars, and that once thirteen were found in the 
room without any one knowing how the thirteenth 
entered. It was an Angel sent by God, to show how he 
loved the charity and the humility of the great Pope. In 
remembrance of this miracle, the feet of thirteen are wash- 
ed. The ceremony of washing the feet takes place with 
the words of our Lord : " A new commandment I give 
unto you, that ye love one another," 5 etc. The word 



1 El Porque de las Ceremonias, cxxx. Mandato Fabri Condones Fer. Quinta in 
Caen, Dora. Con. i. 2 j. T i m _ v . 10 . 3 D e Fest . D N . j christi, 1. i. c. vi., 11. 57. 4 El 
Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Mandato. 5 John xiii, 34. 



266 SAD CEREMONIES. 

commandment in Latin is mandatum, from that comes 
one of the names for this day, Maundy Thursday. 1 

In the evening, the Office of the Tenebrse is sung, ..as 
on the afternoon before, and the evening often closes with 
a sermon on the Blessed Eucharist. 



IY. — Good Friday. 

Christ was crucified on the 23d of March, 2 and the J 
Friday on which our Lord died, by all other nations 
called "Holy," by us from the remotest times it has 
been named Good. 

The robes and vestments, which before were violet, to- 
day are black. The cardinals change their robes of silk 
to those of serge. The thrones and the altars are strip- 
ped of every ornament, and the floors and seats in the 
sanctuaries are bare. Sad and sombre are the rites of 
the Church in celebrating the yearly remembrance of the 
death and of the funeral of our Lord and Saviour, 

Clothed in black vestments, the celebrant and his min- 
isters come forth to the sanctuary without lights or in- 
cense. Before the altar they prostrate themselves upon 
the floor with their faces to the ground in prayer, in 
memory of our Lord, who, prostrate upon the ground in 
the garden of Gethsemane, 3 prayed before his passion for 
the salvation of the race. 4 Going to the corner of the 
altar, the celebrant reads the prophecy of Osee, the tract 
following the prayer, and the history of God command- 
ing eating of the paschal lamb, 5 followed by a tract. 
Then comes the chanting of the history of the passion of 
our Lord, given by St. John. 6 

On Good Friday the Church offers up her prayers for 
men of all states and conditions. During the year the 
Church prays for all men throughout the world, except 
for heretics, to express her horror of apostacy and to 
distinguish them from her children. But on this day, 
forever sanctified by the death of our Lord, who died for 
all men, she makes no exception, and prays for all, nam- 
ing heathens, heretics and Jews. 7 

1 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Mandate 2 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 
335. 3 Luke xxii. 41. 4 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Viernes Sancto. 
5 Exod. xii. 6 John xviii. xix. 7 Butler's Feasts and Fasts, p. 258. 



GOOD FRIDAY CEREMONIES. 267 

Before the prayers, when the celebrant says, " Let us 
pray," the deacon sings, u Let us bend our knees," when 
all except the celebrant kneel 1 to adore the Lord who 
died for us this day. The next instant the sub-deacon 
sings, " Arise," when all rise. The celebrant sings 
the prayers. 2 At the prayers for the Jews we do not 
bend our knees, because in mockery and in derision they 
bent their knees before our Lord before they crucified 
him. 3 These prayers were offered. to God, each Good 
Friday, from the first ages of the Church. 4 Follow- 
ing the example of our Lord, we pray according to the 
words of St. Paul, " who in the days of his flesh, with a 
strong cry and tears, offering up prayers and supplica- 
tions to him that was able to save." 5 In one of the pray- 
ers, supplications are offered for the Emperor of Ger- 
many who in the middle ages received from Rome the 
authority to spread the faith in the north of Europe. 
Now that prayer is not said, except in those parts subject 
to the Austrian empire. 6 

After having prayed for all those not belonging to the 
fold of the faith, the Church now turns her thoughts to 
her children, showing to them the cross, which is a scan- 
dal for the Jews, a folly for the Gentiles, 7 but the glory 
of the Christians. Putting off the chasuble, the cele- 
brant takes the cross, which, from the evening before 
Passion Sunday, has been covered with a violet veil. 
Standing on the floor at the epistle side of the sanctu- 
ary, 8 he uncovers the top of the cross, saying, " Behold 
the wood of the cross on which the salvation of the 
world hung," and the choir sings, "Come, let us adore," 
when all but the celebrant fall on their knees. Coming 
up the steps of the altar, on the epistle side, he uncovers 
the^ right arm of the cross, repeating the same words in 
a higher key. Going to the middle of the altar, he un- 
covers the whole cross with the same words in a still 
higher tone. The celebrant alone sings the first three 
words, while the deacon and sub-deacon aid him in sing- 
ing the remainder. He lays then the cross in the place 



1 Gav p iv. tit. ix. in Rub. iii.; Merp. iv. t. ix. n. 15. 2 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, 
p. 212 * Math, xxvii. 29. * Gueranger, La Passion et La Semaine Ste., p. 547. 5 Heb. 
v. ,. 6 Gueranger, Ibidem, p. 550. » I. Cor. i. 23. » El Porque de las Ceremonias, 
c. xxx. Viernes Sancto. 



268 ORIGIN AND MEANING OF THE CEREMONY. 

prepared for it before the altar, and, out of respect, 1 only 
with his stockings covering his feet, and genuflecting 
three times on both knees, he comes and kisses the 
image of our Lord nailed to the cross. All in the sanc- 
tuary then go two by two through the same ceremony, 
while it is customary for the clergy to offer the image of 
the Crucified to the people at the altar-railing to be 
kissed. 

The origin of this ceremony goes back to the time when 
St. Helen, the mother of Constantine the Great, in the 
IYth century, recovered the cross on which Christ was 
crucified. The sacred relic of the sufferings of the Lord 
was exposed to the people. When they saw the cross, 
they fell down in adoration of their Lord, who was cruci- 
fied on it. It became customary for the clergy to expose 
it on Good Friday each year in Jerusalem, and the holy 
city was crowded with pilgrims from all parts of the world 
during Holy Week. The pilgrims brought to their homes 
in the different countries the story of the cross, and to 
those who could not go to Jerusalem the clergy exposed 
a cross in the different churches of the world on Good 
Friday. Thus it came to pass that in the Vllth century 
the image of our crucified Lord was shown to^the people 
in every church throughout the world. 2 It was only an 
image, but it recalled to them their Lord, who died for 
them. All the respect they gave it was to him who died 
for us on the cross, the instrument of salvation. 

Such is the history and the reason of the imposing rite 
of the stripping of the cross on Good Friday. The cele- 
brant takes off his chasuble, which is the vestment for the 
sacrifice. He strips his feet according to the customs of 
the Eastern nations, like Moses when he approached the 
burning bush. 3 He genuflects three times on both knees 
to honor the three times holy Lord, typified by the cruci- 
fix. He kisses the image to show how he loves his Lord, 
for a kiss is a sign of love. 

While this impressive ceremony is being carried out, 
the choristers sing the words of our Lord, in sad and sol- 
emn tones, to the Jews who crucified him. 4 



1 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 177. * By order of Gregory the Great. El Porque 
de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Vier. S. s Exod. iii. 5. 4 See Goar. Euchol. Graecornm, p. 
126 ; Neal, Holy Eastern Church, vi. p. 367. 



THE "REPROACHES." 269 

" ray people, what did I do to you, or in what did I sadden you? Reply 
to me." 1 

44 1 led you from the land of Egypt, and you prepared a cross for your 
Saviour." 

Then one choir says in G-reek, ' 4 Holy God." 

The other choir replies in Latin, 4i Holy God." 

In Greek, <4 Holy and Strong." 

In Latin, "Holy and Strong." 

In Greek, " Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us." 

In Latin, "Holy and Immortal, have mercy on us." 

Then the choristers continue : 

"Because for forty years I led you through the desert; I fed you with 
manna ; I brought you into a real good land : you prepared a cross for your 
Saviour." 

" Holy God," &c. 

" What more should I have done to you which I have not done ? For I 
planted you as my most beautiful vineyard, and you became to me most bit- 
ter drink ; you gave me vinegar to quench my thirst, and with a lance you 
pierced the side of your Saviour." 

" Holy God," &c. 

44 For you I struck Egypt in their first born, and you gave me up to be 
scourged, my people," &c. 

" I brought you from the land of Egypt, Pharaoh being drowned in the Red 
Sea, and you gave me up to the chief priest, my people," &c. 

" I opened the sea before you, and you opened my side with a lance, 
my people," &c. 

44 1 went before you in a pillar of a cloud, and you led me to Pilate's hall, 
my people," &c. 

14 1 made manna fall for you in the desert, and you fell on me with blows 
and scourges, my people," &c. 

44 1, from the rock, brought forth for you the waters of salvation, and you 
brought to me vinegar and gall, my people," &c. 

" For you struck the kings of the Canaanites, and you struck me with a 
reed, my people," &c. 

44 1 gave to you a royal sceptre, and you gave to my head a crown of 
thorns, my people," &c. 

44 1 raised you up with great power, and you hung me on the gibbet of the 
cross, my people," &c. 

When these heart-rending "Reproaches" are ended, if 
the ceremony of kissing the cross is not finished, the 
choir sings the celebrated hymn, " O faithful cross," com- 
posed by Mamert Claudius, in the YIth century, in honor 
and in remembrance of the holy cross on which our Lord 
died. 

Then they all form into a procession and go to the 
" Repository," where the Sacred Host has reposed since 
the day before. With psalms and hymns they march 



See El Porque de las Cerexnonias, c. xxx. Viern. San, 



270 THE MASS OF THE " PKESANCTIFIED." 

around the church carrying our Lord, till they come to 
the altar, where the Mass of the Presanctified is said. 1 
It is not a Mass in the true sense, as no consecration 
takes place, only the Host consecrated the day before is 
consumed by the celebrant, for to-day the world stands 
appalled at the remembrance of our Lord's death. 2 Mass 
is the most joyful ceremony man can perform, but there 
is no joy in the world to-day, when Ave celebrate the 
memory of the crucifixion of the Saviour. A part only of 
the prayers and the ceremonies of the Mass are to be 
seen in the services of Good Friday, as it is not becoming 
to represent, mystically, in the Mass, the death of our 
Lord whom the Church represents as already dead. 3 In 
the afternoon and evening the "Tenebras" are chanted 
for the last time, and all retire to wait for the ceremonies 
of Holy Saturday. 

Such are the ceremonies with which the Church recalls 
to the minds of men the tragedy of Calvary. The tradi- 
tions of the early Christians tell us that the face of the 
dying Lord was turned toward the west, toward Rome, 
which was to be forever the city of his choice after he 
had rejected Jerusalem. Tradition says that when the 
soldiers dug the hole for the cross, they found a tomb 
and dug up a skull. It was the skull of Adam. Thus the 
blood of the second Adam, Christ, crimsoned the bones 
of the first Adam, and by his death wiped out his sin. 4 
We also learn that God commanded the paschal lamb to 
be eaten on the fourteenth noon of the first month, and 
Christ was crucified on the fifteenth noon, when the moon 
was on the opposite side of the earth from the sun, so that 
unbelievers could not say that the darkness over the 
whole earth was caused by an eclipse of the sun, by the 
moon coming between the sun and the earth. Even the 
celebrated Denys, of Athens, afterwards the disciple of 
St. Paul, cried out, when he saw the sun darken : " Either 
the God of nature is dying, or the world is dissolving." 5 
Thus, when man refused to believe, nature trembled to 
its centre, the rocks split, and the dead came forth from 
their graves to bear witness to the death of the son of 
God. 

1 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 12. 2 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Viernes 
Sancto. 3 St. Thomas, p. 119, s. 83, a. 2. 4 S.S. Basil, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Jerome, 
Origen, etc. 5 Gueranger, La Pas. et La Sem. Ste. p. 576. 



ANTIQUITY OP HOLY SATUEDAY. 271 



V. — Holy Satubday. 

When God finished his work of creation, he rested on 
the Sabbath day. When he ended his work of redemp- 
tion, he rested in the tomb. 1 One was but a figure of the 
other. On Holy Saturday, by our rite and services, we 
recall the rest of our Lord when dead and laid in the 
tomb ; when his blessed soul went down to the limbo of 
the holy ones of the Old Testament, to tell them of their 
redemption. 

From the earliest ages the Christians celebrated 
Holy Saturday. Mass, 2 in ancient times, was not said 
either on Friday or on Saturday of Holy Week. 3 In these 
ancient times the services began at three in the afternoon 
and ended in the night, for the people were accustomed 
to remain 4 in the church till after midnight. The services 
then of -Holy Saturday belong to Easter eve. 5 This we 
learn by Apostolic traditions. 6 At that time they used 
to say Mass in the early morning, about the time of the 
resurrection of our Lord. 7 When the people gave up the 
custom of spending the night in the church, and fasting 
so as to receive the blessed Eucharist at the moment, of 
the resurrection, the services were began in the day, and 
now they are all held on Saturday morning. Still, these 
old customs can be seen to-day in the services of the 
Church. Night is mentioned in place of day. 8 The peo- 
ple of the East follow the ways of the early Christians, 
and say no Mass to-day; but from the IXth century, 
when the people began to lose their love of prayer and of 
fasting, the services were begun earlier and earlier in the 
day, so that now they are commenced in the morning. 

At the time announced, the celebrant, in violet vest- 
ments, as a sign of penance, with a deacon, sub-deacon 
and all the clergy, go outside 9 into the porch of the 
church, where fire is struck from flint. There he blesses 
the new fire and the five grains of incense, with the prayers 

1 Durandus, Rationale Div. L. vi. c. lxxviii. n. 1. 2 De Consecrat., dist. 3, Sab- 
bato. 3 Decret. Innocen. I. 4 St. Aug. Serm-o. ccxxi. in Vig. Pasch. 5 De Consecrat. 
dist. 6, in Jejuniis. 6 Benedict XIV. De Fest. D. N. J. Christi, De Sab. S. n. 2. 7 Ter- 
tul. I. II. ad. Ux. c. 4 ; St. Jerome in Cap. xxv. Matb. 8 O'Brien, Hist, of tbe Mass, p. 
18 ; El Porque delas Ceremonias, c. xxx., Sabado Santo, a Benedictus XIV. de Fest. 
D. N. J. Christi Sab. s. n. 50. 



272 BLESSING THE FIRE. 

given in the Missal. Before this, all the lamps and can- 
dles in the church were put out. These ceremonies are 
deeply mystical. Our Lord says : " I am the light of the 
world." 1 Light, then, is a type of the son of God. All 
lights are put out, for he was put to death. The flinty 
stone, from which the fire is struck, tells us of Christ 
coming forth from the grave, when he passed through the 
rock. He is the stone struck by Moses in the desert, 2 
"for the rock was Christ;" 3 "the stone which the build- 
ers rejected, the same is become the head of the corner," 4 
the stone cut from the mountain without hands, which filled 
the whole earth. 5 The fire coming forth from the flinty 
rock tells us of our Lord coming forth from the rock when 
he rose from the dead — when his body passed through 
the solid rock. 6 In the Old Testament a light forever 
burned before the Ark of the Covenant, a figure of the 
light now ever burning before the Lord upon our altars. 
All candles and lights in the church must be lighted from 
the fire blessed on Holy Saturday. That light represents 
the light of faith burning in our souls. It tells us of the 
light of heaven revealed by God to man. The lights of 
the tabernacle and of the temple told of the revelation 
made to man. All lights are put out in the church be- 
fore the fire is blessed, to tell of the Old Testament pass- 
ing away, because it was fulfilled by the death of our 
Lord. 7 The fire is blessed outside of the church, for 
the tomb of our Lord was beyond the walls of Jerusa- 
lem. 8 The five grains of incense tell of the incense and 
of the perfumes with which the holy women came to 
anoint the body of the dead Lord. 9 

When the fire has been blessed with incense and holy 
water, 10 the deacon takes the long staff, with its three can- 
dles in the form of a triangle, 11 and as soon as he comes 
into the church he lights one of the candles, and in a low 
tone sings, " The light of Christ," while the choir replies, 
"Thanks be to God." It tells how God the Father was 
revealed to man in the beginning of the world. Coming 
to the middle of the church he lights the second candle, 

1 John viii. 12. 2 Exod. xvii. 6. 3 I Cor. x. 4. 4 Math. xxi. 42., Ps. c. xvii. 22. 
5 Dan. ii. 34. El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Sabado Santo. ,! Math, xxviii. 2. 
7 Durandus, Rationale. Div. L. vi. c. lxxx. n. 1. ; Gueranger, La Pas et la Sem. Ste p. 
633. 8 Ibidem, p. 635. 9 Ibidem, p. 635 ; El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Cirio. 
10 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Sabado Santo. 1X Benedic. XIV., Ibidem, 
n,51, 



THE DEACON BLESSING THE PASCHAL CANDLE. 273 

and sings in a higher tone the same words. It recalls 
how God the Son was revealed to the Jews by the pro- 
phets. Drawing near to the altar, he lights the third 
candle and sings in a high key the same words. It typi- 
fies the revelation of God the Holy Ghost to the world. 
Thus it tells of the unity and trinity of God revealed at 
the time of the Apostles. 1 

We cannot find the beginning of these ceremonies. 
Pope Zachary, in the middle of the Ylllth century,- men- 
tions them. Pope Leo IV., in the IXth century, tells us 
of these rites of Holy Saturday. In some churches they 
used to bless the fire each day, because in the church all 
things used in the service of the Lord are blessed. 2 We 
must conclude with the words of an ancient writer, 3 
speaking of this ceremony : " This is the remains of an- 
tiquity." No writer gives the -origin of the staff with the 
three candles carried by the deacon. Even Martine says 
nothing of it ; and we conclude that these sacred rites 
come from the Apostolic times. 

When the deacon comes to the sanctuary he blesses 
the paschal candle. Only bishops and priests can bless. 
There is but one exception for the deacon on Holy Satur- 
day. The deacon always blesses the paschal candle. 
This is the reason. The holy women came to the sepul- 
chre and announced the resurrection of Christ, and as St. 
Augustine 4 and St. Chrysostom say, it was right for woman, 
who first sinned, to be the first to tell that sin had been 
wiped out. Thus, the young deacon, who represents the 
weaker sex, blesses the paschal candle. 5 While all the 
other clergy are clothed in violet vestments during the 
blessing of the fire and of the candle, the deacon alone is 
in white to honor the holy women who told the Apostles 
of the resurrection of our Lord. 

In all the rites and services of the Church, the candle 
represents our Lord. 6 It must be made of beeswax. 7 The 
wax from the bodies of virgin bees tells of his body com- 
ing from the immaculate body of his Mother. The wick 
within that candle tells of his holy soul within his body, 
while the flame typifies his Divinity. 8 In the flame of a 

1 Gavantus, El Porqne de las Oeremonias, c. xxx. Sabado Santo ; Gueranger, 
Ibidem, pp. 638, 639. 2 Benedictus XIV. de Fest. cviii. n. 50, 3 Pouget, Inst. Cath. T, 
I. p. 647. 4 St. Aug. Ser. 252, 144 de Temp. T. 5. 5 El Porque de las Oeremonias, c. 
xxx. Cirio. 6 St.'Aug. Sermo.l. de Cero Pasch. n. ii. 7 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 
132. 3 El Porque de las Cerem. c. xxx. Cirio. 



274 MEANING OF THE PASCHAL CANDLE. 

burning bush the Divinity appeared to Moses. In the 
flame of fiery tongues the Holy Ghost came down upon 
the Apostles. In the flame of the pillar of fire God ap- 
peared and led his people to the promised land. 1 

The paschal candle, before being lighted, tells us of 
the pillar of cloud 2 which led the children of Israel, and 
when lighted it represents the pillar of fire. 3 It is lighted 
from the fire blessed outside the church, to tell of Christ 
illuminating the world by his doctrine when he rose from 
the dead. It is blessed by the deacon singing the beau- 
tiful words composed by St. Augustine :*• " O, now rejoice, 
Angelic hosts." The music was composed by St. Am- 
brose. 5 Thus, the large candle tells of Christ with the 
transcendent splendors of the Son of God rising glo- 
riously from the sepulchre. 6 The deacon imbeds in the 
five holes in the wax the five grains of incense, to tell of 
the fragrant incenses and spices with which they laid 
away the body of the murdered Lord. 7 They are put in 
the form of a cross, to teach us of the five wounds of our 
Saviour on the cross. 

The paschal candle is lighted during the Gospel at all 
the Masses from Holy Saturday till Ascension Thursday, 
when it is put out at the end of the Gospel. It is lighted 
at the Gospel, for it tells of Christ enlightening the world 
by the light of his Gospel. It is quenched on the day he 
went up into heaven, to typify that now all revelation is 
ended. Thus, the paschal candle tells us of Christ rising 
from the dead. 8 

When the paschal candle is quenched on Ascension 
Thursday, it is kept till the following Holy Saturday, and 
the wax, mixed with chrism, is made into the form of lit- 
tle lambs, blessed by the Pope. They are kept till Whit- 
Sunday, when, after Communion, they are given to the 
people, as a figure of the "Lamb of God who taketh 
away the sins of the world. 9 " The nuns cover the wax 
with beautiful designs, and the people wear them around 
their necks. They are known by the name of the " Agnus 
Dei." 

The beginning of the ceremonies of the paschal candle 



1 Rupartus de Divin. Offic. c. xxviii. 2 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Cirio. 
3 St. Aug. de Cirio. Pasch. n. 11. 4 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 96. 5 Ibidem. 
6 Concil. Toletan, IV. 7 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Cirio. 8 Concil. Toletan. 
VI., c. viii. in 633 under Pope Honorius I. 9 John i. 29. 



THE CEREMONIES OF HOLY SATURDAY. 275 

and of the " Agnus Dei," is lost in the silence of the cat- 
acombs, beyond the times of the persecutions. No time 
can be found when the paschal candle was not blessed in 
the cathedrals. Toward the beginning of the Vth cen- 
tury Pope Zozimus mentions it, and afterwards Pope 
Zachary allowed the ceremony to be carried out in small 
churches. 1 

When the candle is blessed, the celebrant reads twelve 
lessons from the Old Testament, in honor of the twelve 
Apostles taught by our Lord, and of the twelve prophets, 
and of the figures of our holy religion hidden in the Old 
Testament. 2 During the ceremony of baptizing the newly 
converted, which took a long time in the days of the 
Apostles, the clergy used to read twelve parts of the Old 
Testament to the people, and that was the origin of the 
twelve lessons read to-day before Mass. 3 In Borne they 
are read both in Latin and in Greek, to tell that the Pope 
is the head of both the Latin and Greek Eites. A prayer 
follows each lesson, and expresses the desire of the Church 
for her children. Those who are to be baptized are in 
their places, and the whole ceremony is grave, yet beau- 
tiful. The many genuflections, the violet vestments, the 
air of penance, the burning candles, all proclaim in pow- 
erful symbols, signs and ceremonies, that the time has 
come when the newly baptized will rise with their Lord 
glorious from the waters of baptism. 4 Such are the cer- 
emonies coming down to us from the times of the Apos- 
tles, when all the converts were prepared during long 
months for their baptism on Holy Saturday. 

When the twelve lessons are ended, the celebrant with 
the clergy go in procession to the baptismal font. Like 
the pillar of cloud guiding the children of Israel to the 
promised land, the paschal candle is carried before those 
who are to be baptized. The promised land was a figure 
of heaven, the pillar of cloud a type of Christ, who guides 
us all to heaven. The Holy Chrism and the Oil of the 
Catechumens are brought to be used in blessing the wa- 
ters, 5 while the choir sings the Psalms of David. All 
monuments of the past tell us that the blessing of the 



1 Benedict XIV. de Fest. D. N. J. Christi. c. vii. n. 54 ; Molani de Agno Dei. c. vi. 
2 Durandus, Rationale Div. L. vi. c. lxxxi, n. 10. 3 Gueranger, La Pas et la Sem. 
Ste. p. 648, 649. 4 El Porque de. las Ceremonias, c, xxx. Bened. de la Pila. 8 El 
Porque de las Ceremonias, c, xxx. Benedic. de la Pila, 



276 BLESSING THE WATER. 

waters of baptism was instituted by the Apostles. The 
great Saints and the Fathers of the Church tell of these 
ceremonies in their writings. On the walls of the cata- 
combs are to be seen pictures of the baptized, likened 
by the persecuted Christians to the fishes of Christ swim- 
ming in the waters of salvation. 1 

With beautiful prayers the waters are blessed. The 
celebrant stops in his sublime prayers, and, with his right 
hand, he divides the waters in the form of a cross, 2 to show 
that from the cross these waters receive their power to 
wipe out sin. 3 Continuing, he stops again and touches 
the water. The celebrant represents our Lord, who, 
when he was baptized, the water, by touching his most 
holy person, received the power to baptize and wipe out 
sin. 4 Three crosses are made over the water to tell us 
that by the work of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity, 
salvation is given to man in baptism. 5 He divides the 
water towards the four quarters of the world, to typify 
that our Lord sent his Apostles into the four quarters of 
the world to baptize all nations. 6 He breathes three 
times on the water in the form of a cross, because, when 
our Lord sent the Holy Ghost, which means, in the an- 
cient language, a breath, 7 upon his Apostles, he breathed 
upon them. He was the same Holy Spirit who moved 
over the face of the waters on the morning of the crea- 
tion, 8 who shook the upper chamber with a mighty wind 
when he came upon the Apostles, and who now works all 
these wonders by the waters of baptism. The celebrant 
breathes three times in the form of a cross, to show that 
to the sufferings of the cross is joined the work of the 
holy Trinity in the salvation of the race. 9 Then the pas- 
chal candle is immersed three times in the water with the 
words, " that the Holy Spirit may fill this font with his 
fullness," as when he came down in the form of a dove 
on Christ, immersed in the waters of the Jordan, when 
he came in a cloud in the transfiguration, and when he 
came upon the Apostles, figured by the paschal candle 
immersed in the water, while the raising up of the candle 

1 See diagrams and copies of pictures in the Catacombs, made by tbe French Govern- 
ment. 2 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Ben. de la Pila.; St. Aug. Contra Julian. 
Pelag. n. 42. 3 Gueranger, Ibidem, p. 695. 4 St. Aug:. Sermo. xvi. in Circumcis. 
Dora. n. 3. 5 Catena Aurea Sup. Cap. xvii. Math. « XXVIII. 19, Mazzinellus, Off. 
Major, Hebdom. p. 293. 7 Gueranger, Ibidem, p. 698. 8 Acts ii. 2, 9 El Porque de las 
Ceremonias, c. xxx. Bened. de la Pila. Gavantus, etc, 



BLESSING THE BAPTISMAL FONT. 277 

tells of baptism raising man from sin to glory. 1 The third 
time the celebrant plunges the candle into the water ; be- 
fore taking it out he breathes upon the water in the form 
of the Greek letter with which the word Spirit begins in 
that language, 2 prajdng that the water may receive the 
whole power of the Holy Spirit. The candle is then 
taken out of the water. 3 The candle tells of Christ, the 
second person of the Holy Trinity. From him, as well 
as from the Father, comes the Holy Ghost, and with the 
candle we pray that the same Holy Ghost may come 
down into the waters by his power. 

When the prayers are ended, the people are sprinkled 
with the holy water, and some of it is kept for the peo- 
ple to take to their homes as a remembrance of their 
baptism, and to use as holy water. 

This is the holy, or the Easter water, but another cer- 
emony is held in order to prepare it for baptism. From 
Holy Thursday the Church has guarded the Holy Oils, 
and to sanctify still further the water he pours upon it the 
Oil of the Catechumens in the form of a cross, telling by 
that ceremony that, as the Lord Jesus was anointed by 
the Holy Ghost for the redemption of mankind, thus this 
water is now anointed with oil for the redemption of all 
in baptism. The celebrant then pours upon the waters the 
Holy Chrism, which tells of Christ giving to the waters 
power unto the remission of sin. He then pours both 
the Oils of the Catechumens and the Holy Chrism together 
on the waters, in the form of a cross, to typify that they 
have received the power of the three Persons of the Trin- 
ity 4 to work their wonders in the souls of men when they 
are baptized. 

After this the Catechumens are baptized when they have 
been prepared beforehand for the ceremony. The bap- 
tismal rite is followed by the Litany of the Saints, to call 
down the aid of all the holy ones of heaven on the newly 
baptized, that they may keep the faith given them by 
God by this holy sacrament. While the choir sings the 
Litany, the clergy prostrate themselves on their faces be- 
fore the altar to implore the grace of God upon the peo- 



1 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Benedic. de la Pila; Durandus, etc.; Gavantus, 
etc. 2 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx Bened. de la Pila. 3 El Porque de las Cere- 
monias, c. xxx. Bened. de la Pila. 4 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Bened. de 
la Pila. 



278 THE MASS OF HOLY SATURDAY. 

pie and upon those to-day baptized. 1 In former times, 
when a great number received the sacrament of baptism, 
they used to sing the Litany three times. Now, at the 
words "Sinners," etc., the celebrant and his ministers rise 
and continue the Litany and the prayers. 

The Mass of Holy Saturday now begins, It bears 
many of the marks of its ancient origin. The altars are 
covered, for the Church begins to celebrate the glories of 
the resurrection. Formerly the Mass was begun long be- 
fore the break of day on Easter morning, and the ceremo- 
nies still retain their ancient traits. 2 The violet vest- 
ments worn since Septuagesima Sunday give place to white 
and gold in honor of the risen Lord. No Introit is said, 
following the custom before the time of Pope Celestin. 3 
The Mass then has no heading, for our Head lies dead 
in the grave. The Angelic Hymn, "Glory be to God in 
the highest," 4 is sung, and the bells, the joyful tones of 
which were heard no more from Holy Thursday, burst 
forth in all their tinkling tones from the sanctuary, or 
pealing sounds from the steeples, to tell of the joyful 
news of the resurrection of our Lord. The Hebrew word 
"Alleluia — praise ye the Lord," 5 is sung by the cele- 
brant three time to praise the three times Holy Lord, 
who has risen from the grave. No candles are carried at 
the singing of the Gospel, to typify that the resurrection 
of the Lord is not yet known, for light represents knowl- 
edge. 6 The Creed is not sung, to tell of the silence of 
the women who came to anoint our Lord's body. 7 The 
Mass is very short, because the children who were to be 
baptized would be tired out before the end. 8 

Such are a few ideas of the meanings of the services of 
Holy Saturday. It is with regret that the writer sees 
that he cannot, in a book of this kind for the people, give 
all the meanings of these ceremonies rilled with the deep- 
est mysticism. In the early ages of faith, the services 
used to begin at three in the afternoon and last till the 
dawn of Easter Sunday. Then there were no Yesper 
Services, but when the people would not fast, and the 
services were commenced in the morning, a small Yesper 
service was given at the end of the Mass. 9 

1 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xxx. Ben. de la Pila. 2 Pope Innocent Epert. 11, 
etc., cap. 4. El Porque. c. xxx. Ben. de la Pila. 3 El Porque de las Cerem. c. xxx. Ben. 
de la. Pila. 4 St. Liguori. Caerem. Mis. c. iv. n. 8. 5 Butler's Feasts and Fasts, p. 
275. 6 Durandus, Rationale Div., Ibidem, n. 5. 7 Wal. Strabo de Rebus Eccl. c. xxii. 
etc. 8 Meratus, p. 1179, Benedictus XIV. de Fest. D. N. J. Christi c ix. n. 68. 9 Guer- 
anger la Pas. et la Sem. Ste. p. 720. 



Chapter YIIL — The Easter Season. 



REASONS RELATING TO THE EASTER SEASON. 

The word Easter comes from the name of the old Teu- 
tonic goddess of spring, Ostera, or Eostre, whose feast 
was celebrated by the Druids and the pagans of the north 
of Europe during the month of April. 1 Among the peo- 
ple of the south of Europe, from the times of their con- 
version to the Christian religion, it is called the Pasch, 
from the Hebrew word which means the Passage of the 
Red Sea, when the Israelites were delivered from the 
land of Egypt. 2 

On the fourteenth moon of the month of March, the 
children of Israel eat their Paschal Lamb in remembrance 
of their delivery by Moses from the land of Egypt, a type 
of Christ by whom all men are delivered from the power 
of the devil. 3 The people of Israel took the blood of the 
paschal lamb and sprinkled it on the door-posts of their 
houses, by which they were saved from death, from the 
hand of the destroying Angel, 4 a type of the blood of 
Christ by which we are saved from everlasting death. 

The Easter Season was instituted by the Apostles. 5 No 
writer has doubted that such was its origin. The Fath- 
ers of the Apostolic age call it the Feast of feasts and the 
Solemnity of solemnities. In these early times it lasted 
for a whole week. 6 For that reason the Offices of the 
Breviary are quite short on Easter week. During each 
of these days the people were obliged to hear Mass. 7 
That continued to be the law till the Xllth century, when 
the people not attending, the obligation was taken away. 

According to the Latin Eite, Easter is celebrated on the 
first Sunday after the fourteenth moon following the ver- 
nal equinox, or following the 21st of March. The Jews 



1 Ven. Bede, L. de Eat. Temp, c 13. 2 St. Aug. Sermo. vii. De Pasch. n. 1. 3 Exod. 
xii. 4 Benedictus XIV. De Fest. D. N. J. Christi, c. ix. n. 1. 5 St. Augustine. Epi. 54, 
Gregory Nazian., etc. 6 Benedictus, Ibidem, n. 2. 7 Concil Lugd. Martine de Antiq. 
Eccl. Dicip. c. 25, n. 1, et seq.; Can. 1. de Consec. Dist. 3. 



THE CHRISTIAN AND JEWISH EASTER. 281 

held their Easter on the fourteenth moon of the month of 
March. 1 Thus the Christian Easter always falls on Sun- 
day, while the Jewish Easter may come on any day of 
the week. The time of holding the Easter services is a 
matter of discipline and not of faith. 2 Discipline can 
change, faith never, and the Apostles allowed the con- 
verted Jews this freedom of discipline to show that the 
Church did not condemn, but fulfilled the law of Moses. 
But the Apostles directed Easter to be held on the first 
Sunday following the fourteenth moon after the vernal 
equinox, while the Jews held their Easter on the four- 
teenth moon of the month of Abib or Nisan, 3 correspond- 
ing to our March. In Rome, and in all parts of the pagan 
world, the converts followed the directions of the Apos- 
tles regarding the celebration of Easter. So as not to 
turn the Jews away from the Church, in the first Council 
of Jerusalem they were commanded only to abstain from 
things suffocated and from blood, while they could keep 
many of the ways and customs of the Mosaic law. This 
was allowed them till the time of the destruction of their 
city and of their temple in the year seventy, forty years 
from the death of Christ. The Apostles then saw the pro- 
phecy of our Lord and of the prophets fulfilled, that the 
law of Moses would cease, and that the Jews would be 
scattered throughout the world. From that time the 
Jewish ceremonies have been condemned. Two excep- 
tions were made : one regarding to abstinence from things 
strangled and from blood, the other regarding the cele- 
bration of Easter by those who followed the Eastern 
Rites. 

One part of Asia Minor for a long time refused to 
change from the Jewish to the Christian time, of cele- 
brating Easter. They claimed that St. John, the Evan- 
gelist, allowed them the Jewish custom, which history 
tells us he did, because there were so many converts from 
the Jews among them. 4 St. John became bishop of 
Ephesus, and died there in ripe old age, the last of the 
Apostles, and all loved him and respected what he taught. 
But they differed from the rest of the Christian world in 
this matter of celebrating Easter. In 150 Pope St. Ana- 

1 Exod. xxii. 6; De Consec. dist. 3 Nosce. et seq. 2 Benedictus XIV. De Fest. D 
N. J. Christi, c. ix. n, 5. 3 Exod. xii. 42 ; Num. ix. 12 : John xix. 31. 4 Gueranger,' 
Le Temps Paschal, p. 5. 



282 DIFFICULTIES RELATING TO EASTER. 

cletus sat upon the chair of Peter, and St. Polycarp, the 
disciple and the successor of St. John, as bishop of Ephe- 
sus, came to Rome to see St. Anacletus relative to the 
celebration of Easter. As it is a matter of discipline, 
which may change, and not of doctrine, which never 
changes, St. Polycarp continued to celebrate the feast on 
the same day as the Jews. In place of any feeling arising 
between him and the Pope, following the manners of the 
early Christians, they parted with the kiss of peace, 1 and 
St. Polycarp departed for Ephesus without settling the 
matter. Some years passed when Polycrates, the succes- 
sor of St. Polycarp, with all the bishops of Asia Minor, 
wrote to Pope St. Yiclor, asking if Easter could not be 
celebrated on the same day with the Jews. The Pope 
gathered all the bishops of the world in a council in Rome, 
and all were of one mind, that Easter should be held, not 
on the fourteenth moon of the month of March, like the 
Jews, but on the first Sunday following the fourteenth 
moon following the vernal equinox. 2 The same was the 
decision of many other Councils in various parts of the 
world. , The Council of Ephesus, presided over by Poly- 
crates, alone held out against the whole Church. We see 
by this how hard it is to change old religious customs. 
Thinking that it was time to bring all back to the rule 
laid down by St. Peter and the other Apostles, so as to 
break up the Jewish custom allowed by St. John in the 
church of Ephesus, Pope St. Victor pronounced sentence 
against the churches of Asia Minor, which separated 
them from the centre of authority, Rome. That sentence, 
pronounced only after long trials on the part of Rome to 
unite* all together, excited sorrow in the hearts of many 
bishops, above all of St. Irenseus, the disciple of St. John 
and the successor of Lazarus as bishop of Lyons. He 
asked the Pope not to carry out the sentence against the 
churches and cut them off from the fold, 3 for, as he said, 
they acted thus through want of knowledge rather than 
through stubbornness. The sentence was recalled, and 
in the year 276 St. Anatolius, bishop of Laodicea, tells us 
that soon after all the churches of Asia Minor changed 
from the Jewish to the Christian day of celebrating 
Easter. 

1 Benedictus, Ibidem, n. 5. 2 De Consecr. Dist. 3, Celebritatem. 3 Brev. Rom. Of. 
St. Irense. 



EASTER IN THE COUNCIL OE NICE. 283 

All the world was then united regarding the time of 
holding the Easter solemnities. But soon a remarkable 
turn of affairs took place. Many of the churches of Syria, 
Sicily and of Mesopotamia, returned to the Jewish time 
of holding Easter. That change from the Apostolic cus- 
toms afflicted the Church, and the council of Nice was 
called. One of the first matters brought up by the bish- 
ops was that Easter should be celebrated on Sunday ; "all 
dispute laid aside, the brethren of the East will celebrate 
Easter on the same day as the Romans, the Alexandrians 
and all the other faithful." 1 The time of holding Easter 
was such an important question, that St. Athanasius, af- 
terwards archbishop of Alexandria, tells us that the Coun- 
cil was called for two reasons, to establish unity in the 
celebration of Easter, and to condemn the errors of Arius, 
who denied the Divinity of our Lord. 2 At that time Al- 
exandria, of which St. Mark was the first bishop, was 
celebrated for her learned men. The Council of Nice 
directed that the bishop of that city was to make out the 
calculations each year relating to the time of celebrating 
Easter. The Roman Pontiff wrote to all the churches in 
the world, which were represented by their bishops in 
that the first general Council, telling them on what day 
Easter should be kept. From that time the custom was 
for many ages for the Pope to address an Encyclical Let- 
ter to all the churches of the world each year relating to 
the celebration of the Easter time. 3 Thus the whole 
Christian world was again united. But in after years, 
when the British Isles were converted, some difficulties 
arose among them relating to Easter, some holding to the 
custom of the churches of Asia Minor, others, and the 
greater part, to the time taught by St. Augustine, the 
Apostle of England, sent by Pope Gregory the Great, and 
St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, sent by Pope Celes- 
tine I. 4 In the Council of Whitby, in 66i, they settled 
the matter by following the Roman Rite. 5 

The Easter, or Paschal Season, begins on Easter Sun- 
day and ends on the Saturday after Pentecost. It is the 
most holy part of the year, and to this season all the 
other feasts relate. It is the time of the triumph of the 



1 Spicil. Soles, t. iv. p. 541. 2 Epist. ad Afros Episcopos. 3 Concil. Gallise, t 
* Am. Cycloped. Art. Celestine. 5 Life of St. Cuthbert, etc. 



284 THE TRIUMPH OF THE SON OF GOD. 

Son of God. 1 It is the figure of heaven. It is a picture 
of the glories of the hereafter. On Easter Sunday man, 
in the person of the Son of God, triumphed over hell, and 
regained his inheritance lost in Adam. 2 During the last 
week we have seen in signs, symbols and ceremonies, 
Christ the man, weak, suffering, dying, dead. During 
this season we are to see in type, figures and rites, grand 
and beautiful, the same Christ the Lord, powerful, con- 
quering and triumphant over hell, sin and death, the 
first-born of these two, as he rises gloriously from the 
tomb. 3 " For by a man came death, and by a man, the 
resurrection of the dead. And as in Adam all die ; so 
also, in Christ, all shall be made alive." 4 

To yearly celebrate the resurrection of our Lord is the 
object of the Easter services. Sin is the death of the 
soul, and that the people may rise in glory and in tri- 
umph from the grave of sin, Septuagesima Time, Lent 
and Holy Week are given to the people to prepare them- 
selves for the sacraments during the Easter Season. All 
who have received their first Communion must receive 
the Holy Eucharist each year during the Easter Time, 
which in this country lasts from the first Sunday of Lent 
till Trinity Sunday. 

The uncreated wisdom, the Holy Spirit which dwells 
within the Church and teaches her all things, 5 guided -her 
in celebrating Easter on the Sunday appointed, and not 
on any day of the week like the Jews. On the first Sun- 
day of creation, God, from everlasting night, brought forth 
the light which illuminates the world around us. It was 
but a figure of the Wisdom of the Father, his only begot- 
ten Son coming forth from the sepulchre on that first 
Easter Sunday, when, with the transcendent splendors of 
the Divinity, he passed through the solid rock. Easter 
Sunday is the greatest feast of the Church ; and the other 
Sundays of the year are but so many little Easters, com- 
ing each week to remind us of our risen Lord. 6 Thus, to 
break the last link which held the early Christians to the 
law of the Jews, Easter was fixed on Sunday. The laws 
of Moses and of the Jewish Sabbath were gone forever, 



1 Fabri Conciones Dom. Kesurrec. Concio I. 2 Gueraneer, Le Temps, p. 1. 3 St. 
Clirysostom, etc. 4 I. Cor. xv. 21, 22. 5 Johii xiv. 26. 6 St. Aug. Epist. 1. n. 23. 



COMMUNION IN APOSTOLIC TIMES. 285 

and the laws of Christ and the Christian Sunday took 
their place. 1 

The Easter Season is like a continual Sunday. For 
that reason the first week is like a continual Easter, and 
was once celebrated with great pomp and ceremony. 2 
The law of the Church will allow no fasting for forty days 
from Easter to Ascension Thursday, following the words 
of the Lord : " Can the children of the marriage fast as 
long as the bridegroom is with them ?" 3 

The most rigid and austere of the religious Orders of 
the East, going back to the times of the Apostles, keep 
that rule. The celestial song of the "Alleluia," 1 is heard 
continually in the services. All Christians, from the ear- 
liest ages, considered the Easter Time as a perpetual se- 
ries of feasts, as Tertullian tells us. 5 St. Ambrose, in- 
structing the faithful of Milan, says : "If the Jews were 
not content to celebrate a weekly Sabbath feast, but also a 
whole Sabbath lasting a year, how much more should we 
honor the resurrection of our Lord? Thus, we celebrate 
the fifty days of Pentecost as a part of the Paschal Sea- 
son. 6 These days are seven whole weeks in length, and 
Pentecost is the eighth day after. 7 During that time the 
Church forbids fasting, as on the Sundays of the year, for 
all these days are like one whole Sunday." 8 

In the Apostolic times the people used to go to Com- 
munion each day they heard Mass ; for we read that they 
met daily, * * breaking bread. 9 It made them saints. 
It gave them strength to bear their persecutions and suffer 
martyrdom. In after times they became negligent, and 
did not receive so often, till at length the Church made a 
law in the beginning of the IVth century, obliging all to 
receive the Holy Eucharist on Easter Sunday, Pentecost 
and Christmas. 10 

_ Two hundred years afterwards we find that those who 
did not obey that law were not to be considered as Cath- 
olics. 11 That remained the rule for many centuries after- 
wards, when the law was restricted to the Paschal Time 
alone. 12 We find the same custom carried out in England 

1 I. Council of Jerusalem. 2 Concil. Toletan. VI. in 683 under Pope Honorius I. 
3 Mark ii. 19. *■ St. Aug. vol. vi. 299, et Enar. in Ps;ilm CVI. n. 1. 5 De Idolat. c. xiv. 6 St. 
Aug. Epist. xxxv. n. 21. 7 St. Aug. Sermo. viii. de Decern. Plag. et Praecept. n". 13. 
8 St. Ambrose in Luc. 1. viii. c. xxv. 9 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 371; Acts ii. 46. 
10 Concil. Eliber in 305. J1 Concil. Agathen. I. c. xvii. in 506 under Pope Sym- 
niachus. ia Concil. Ratisbon II. in 1524 under Pope Clement VII. 



286 CUSTOMS RELATING TO COMMUNION. 

after her conversion by St. Augustine. We find it in the 
writings of Egbert, archbishop of York. 1 We find it was 
the rule in France by command of the council of Tours. 
In some other parts of the Christian world they used to 
go to Communion on each of the three last days of Holy 
Week, as well as at Easter. But at length the people 
became relax and did not keep that law. 

Towards the beginning of the XIII th century, at the call 
of Pope Innocent III., the IYth Lateran Council met, and, 
with regret, seeing that the people did no more frequent 
the table of the Lord, as in the times following the Apos- 
tles, the Council decreed that they were obliged to re- 
ceive the blessed Eucharist only once each year at the 
Paschal Time. 2 So as to show that the negligence of the 
people could not go any farther, the Council declares that 
those who will dare to break that law, shall, while living, 
be forbidden the Church, and dying, be deprived of Chris- 
tian burial, as though they had in their lives renounced 
the Christian religion. 3 To give all a chance to approach 
the sacraments, afterwards Pope Eugenius IY. allowed 
the yearly Communion to take place between Palm Sun- 
day and Low Sunday. 4 The same was decreed at another 
time. 5 For no cause except when exempt by their bishop 
or parish priest, or ordered to defer it by their confessor, 
were the people allowed to put off the yearly Commu- 
nion. 6 At another time they were commanded to receive 
in their own parish, 7 and the bishop was himself to look 
after tramps and see they went to the sacraments. 8 Even 
servants working in the monasteries were obliged to re- 
ceive in their own parish churches, 9 and when the peo- 
ple were sick, the parish priests were directed to bring 
th em Communion to their houses. 10 In America the Easter 
Communion can be received from the first Sunday of Lent 
till Trinity Sunday. 11 

By the ancient writers, the Easter Time is called in 
Latin, Quinquagesima, and in Greek, Pentecost, 12 both 
words meaning fifty, because it lasts for fifty days. 13 It is 



1 Gueranger, Le Temrs Paschal, p 14. 2 In 1215. 3 Gueranger, Le Temps Paschal, 
p. 14. 4 Const. Fide Digna in 1440. 5 Concil, Colon. I. in 1536, under Pope Paul III. p. 
7, c. xix. 6 Concil. Mediola, n. XI. under Pope Pins IV. p. 2, c. iv., in 1565. ' Con- 
cil. Mediol. XII., 1. 1, c. ii., in 1569, under Pius V. 8 Ibidem, c. xiv. 9 Concil. Mediolan., 
XV., p. 1, c. x. 10 See Concil. Trident, S. XXII., c. xi. ; Concil. Mediolan, n. XVI., c. 
viii., 1582, under Gregory XIII. 1J O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 372. 12 St. Aug. 
Sermo. CCX. in Quadragesima, n. 8. l3 See St. Aug. Epist. LV., n. 28. 



MYSTERIES OF THE EASTER SEASON. 287 

a continuation of the glories of the resurrection, and sig- 
nifies the everlasting joys and pleasures awaiting us in 
heaven, 1 after the trials and sufferings in this valley of 
death through which we must pass, like our Lord. 2 Each 
fiftieth year among the Jews was their year of Jubilee, 
when all their debts were blotted out and their slaves were 
set at liberty, a figure of our fifty days of Easter Time, 
when all our sins are blotted out by our good works dur- 
ing our penance and fasting of the Septuagesima and 
Lenten Seasons. Thus we celebrate two Seasons — one 
before Easter, when we do penance, a figure of this world 
of penance and of sorrows ; the other after Easter, when 
we rejoice, a figure of the other world of glory. 3 From 
the first ages of the Church during the first of these holy 
Seasons, the people spent their time in the churches on 
their bended knees in prayer ; but when the Easter Sea- 
son came, they stood while praying in the church. 4 Thus,, 
it is a time of joy, for it tells of the time spent by our Lord 
among his Apostles after his rising from the dead. 5 From 
this comes the custom of the people standing at the 
prayers at High Masses during the Sundays of the year, 
which are all consecrated to the resurrection of Christ 
from the dead. 6 This is mentioned by many of the first 
councils and fathers of the early times. 

In the Offices and services of the Church the Hebrew 
word, "Alleluia," is often sung. 7 Many writers have given 
different meanings of the word, 8 but it seems to mean, 
"Praise ye the Lord." St. John often heard it sung by 
Angels before the throne of God. 9 It tells them of the 
joys of heaven. The last part ' of the word, " ia," was 
never pronounced but by the high priest once each year, 
when he went behind the veil into the Holy of Holies, 
clothed in all the grandeur of his sacerdotal robes. 10 "O 
happy Alleluia, which we shall one day sing in heaven," 
says St. Augustine. "Let us also sing here below Alle- 
luia, though we now live in pain and trouble, that we 
may sing it there in perfect security." 11 Thus the peni- 
tential Season before Easter represents this life on earth 



1 St. Aug., ibidem. a Butler's Feasts and Fasts, p. 313. s Sr. Aug. Enarac. in Ps. 
cxlviii. n. 1 ; Durandus, Rationale Div. L. vi. c. lxxxvi, n. 17. 4 St. Aug. Ep., 1. 5. n. 
28. 5 75Dist. Scire. 6 Butler's Feasts and Fasts, p. 311. 7 St. Liguori, De Caerem. 
Mis., c. vi, n. 1. 8 See Teaching Truth by Signs and Ceremonies, p. 171. 9 Apoc. 
xix, 1. 10 Cornel. Lap. Calmet. Bellarm., etc. ;1 Ser .256. 



288 THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN EASTER. 

while the Paschal Season after Easter represents the 
other life in heaven. 

Spiritual happiness fills the souls of those, who, like 
their Lord, have passed through the sufferings of Lent 
and Holy Week and risen with him at Easter to the glo- 
ries of a better and a more perfect life. Of all times of 
the year this Season is filled with the deepest mysteries. 
It is the culminating point of the whole year. All which 
has gone before has been but like so many preparations 
for the Easter Season. The pious waitings of Advent, 
the joyful holidays of Christmas, the penances of Sep- 
tuagesima, the fastings of Lent and the sorrows of Holy 
Week, all are like so many steps by which we arrive at the 
sublime mysteries of the Easter Season. To show us the 
greatness of this time, God gives us two wonderful works 
in which to see his power — the raising of our Lord from 
the dead at Easter, and the coming down of the Holy 
Ghost at Pentecost. Again, as a further showing forth 
of his power, he gives us the Easter of the Israelites and 
the Easter of the Christians, the Pentecost of Sinai and 
the Pentecost of the Church. The Easter of the Israel- 
ites, when led by Moses, they passed through the waters 
of the Dead Sea, was but a figure of the Christians ; when 
led by Christ, they pass through the waters of baptism. 
The Pentecost of Sinai, when God came down, and in 
the figure of fire gave his law to the Jews, was but a 
figure of the Christian Pentecost, when the Holy Ghost 
came down in the figure of fiery tongues, and wrote his 
law in the hearts of the Apostles. 1 The law of Moses was 
but the dim twilight of the morning of the world, till all 
was lighted up with the splendors of the rising Son of 
God, when he came forth from the tomb to enlighten the 
world and to fulfil the figures of the Old Testament. 

The human race was dead, dead with the sin of Adam, 
and to bring them forth from that spiritual death, he 
came and died, and rose to tell us how to die and how to 
rise into the happy eternity — into the everlasting life of 
which our Easter Time is but a figure. The Holy Church 
then, say the Fathers, wishes us all to rise from sin as 
he rose from death, and to die no more by doing wrong. 

The wonderful wisdom of God, who leads all creatures 



1 St. Aug. Contra Faustum, 1. xxxii., n. 12. 



SATURDAY FIGURES CREATION, SUNDAY REDEMPTION, 289 

to the end for which he created them, disposed all nature 
in such a way, that the world around us is a figure of the 
world of grace. From the reception of the sacraments* 
and from the contemplation of the mysteries of the suf- 
ferings, death and resurrection of our Lord, our souls are 
to begin to grow stronger and stronger in the grace of 
God. Nature around shows us that God has made the 
world we see to be a figure of the unseen world of grace. 
Now, in the spring-time of the year, when we are celebrat- 
ing the glories of the risen Son of God, the plants and 
flowers are springing forth from the ground, the trees are 
putting on their leaves, all nature rises from the death of 
winter and tells man to rise from the death of sin, from 
the sleep of indifference and of neglect, to that other and 
to that higher life of grace and of innocence with the glori- 
fied Lord. At Christmas Time, the days had just began 
to grow longer, while the darkness and the shadows of 
deep winter stretched across the earth. All was in har- 
mony with the humble birth of the infant God. But now 
when he has gained his triumph over the old enemy of 
the human race, when he has risen from the grave to 
show how man may rise from sin, the time of the equal 
days and nights has passed, and the days grow longer 
and longer. Light is a figure of grace in the heart of 
man, and the increasing light of the days after Easter, 
typifies the increase of grace in the hearts of the people 
by the sacraments received at Easter. 1 

God rose from the dead on Sunday, the first day of the 
week, the day he created light, and he rested in the 
tomb the last day of the week. The day he rested after 
the creation, Saturday, tells of the rest of God after the 
creation of the material world, while Sunday tells of the 
rest of God after the redemption of our race. Thus 
Saturday recalls the creation, while Sunday recalls the 
redemption; thus speak the great doctors of the Church ; 
thus Saturday, the Sabbath of the Jews, is gone, and Sun- 
day, the Sabbath of the Christians, has taken its place. 
Sunday is but a continual Easter, in remembrance of the 
redemption of the world. It was well to keep the Sab- 
bath of the Israelites, but God came and hid the light of 



1 Gueranger, Lo Temps Taschal, p. 30. 



290 THE MYSTERY OF SEVEN DAYS. 

his Divinity under the veil of our human nature, and, 
after having fulfilled all the types and figures of the law 
of the Old Testament in his sacred person — after having 
redeemed the race, he rested on Saturday in the grave. 
" Let us leave, then, the Jews, the slaves of the love of 
the things of this world ; let them live in the pleasures 
of their Sabbath, which is but the remembrance of the 
material creation ; filled with the love of earthly things, 
they knew not the Lord who created the world ; they 
would not receive him because, he said : ' Blessed are the 
poor.' Our Sabbath is the eighth day, and the first day 
of creation. Our joy, then, comes not from the created 
world, but from the redeemed world." 1 

The mystery of seven days, followed by the eighth, 
called the Octave, is found in a new way in the Easter 
Season. That holy time is made up of seven weeks 
making a week of weeks, and the day following is the 
glorious Sunday of Pentecost. God himself gave these 
mysterious numbers in the desert of Sinai. In the Pen- 
tecost of the children of Israel, fifty days after they 
celebrated their Easter, they celebrated the feast of 
Pentecost. God himself gave these mysterious numbers 
in the coming down of the Holy Ghost on the Apostles, 
fifty days after our Lord rose from the dead, on the feast 
of Pentecost. From that the Apostles formed the Easter 
Season of the Church. Such is its origin, say the 
greatest writers. 2 "If we multiply seven by seven we 
find that this holy time is the Sabbath of Sabbaths ; but 
what makes up the fullness of the eight beatitudes of 
the Gospel 3 is the eighth day which follows Pentecost 
Sunday; that day was Sunday, at the same time the 
first and the eighth." The Apostles considered these 
seven weeks so holy that during them they bent not their 
knees to adore, nor disturbed their happiness by fasting. 
The same belongs to each Sunday, for that day, by the 
Gospel, takes the place of Saturday, and the perfection of 
Saturday belongs to the day we celebrate in feasting and 
in joy." 4 Thus, as the most holy day of each week is 
Sunday, the day set apart to the worship of the Lord, 
who rose that day from the dead, the Easter Season is 



1 Rupert. De Divin. Officis., 1. vii., c. xix. 2 St. Isidore, Amalarius, Rhaban Maur, 
etc. 3 Math. v. 4 St. Hilary, Prolog, in Psalmos. 



THREE GREAT EVENTS. 291 

the Sunday of the year, set apart to the remembrance of 
the resurrection of our Lord. 1 

We find it figured in the law of Moses. Their Pente- 
cost was the fiftieth day after their Easter, and it was 
the day following the seven weeks. Again, they had 
their seven weeks of years, and the fiftieth year was their 
year of jubilee ; that was for them a year of rest. Those 
whose farms and property were lost or sold all were 
returned ; they got again their property, and those who 
were made slaves were set at liberty. All were figures 
of the liberty with which God hath made us free, by 
dying and rising for us from the dead. 

No hymn is sung during the first week of the Easter 
Time, because, although the hymn is a sign of joy, still 
this season tells us of heaven, the world of bliss beyond 
the grave. As St. John saw in heaven the Angels and 
Saints praising God, repeating again and again the word, 
" Alleluia," 2 the Church reminds the people of the 
weakness of earthly hymns compared to the heavenly 
choirs, to which we are all called. Therefore we sing no 
hymns but the heavenly song of the "Alleluia" in the 
Offices of the Breviary. 

The color of the vestments is white, to typify the 
glories of the Lord, clothed with light, rising from the 
dead, and to tell of the innocence of the souls of the 
Christians who have fortified themselves in the blood of 
the lamb, without spot, by receiving the sacraments. 
The feasts of the higher classes, which could not be cele- 
brated before, because of the ceremonies of Lent, Holy 
Week, and of Easter Week, will now appear in the Cycle 
of the year. 

Three great mysteries are celebrated during the 
Easter Season — the Eesurrection of our Lord, his 
Ascension into heaven, and the descent of the Holy 
Ghost. During the forty centuries before Christ all the 
wonders of the Lord, to the chosen ones of old, were to 
prepare the world for these three great events — the 
showing forth of God's almighty power. Thus, during 
the year, all the feasts, fasts and the seasons of the 
religious year have been to prepare man for these three 
great feasts. The spirits made perfect, who inhabit the 

! Gueranger, Le Temps Paschal, pp. 23, 24. 3 Apoc. xix. 1, 3, 4, 6. 



292 HISTORY OF THE RESURRECTION. 

home of God himself, are wonder struck at the wisdom of 
God thus repairing the fallen race of sinning Adam. 1 
The Easter Season is a part of the Enlightening Life, and 
we can say that it is the highest and most sublime of 
any other part of the year. It shows us God in all his 
glory ; it shows us our nature raised up to the highest 
throne of God in heaven. 



I. — Easter Sunday. . ■ ■ 

Easter, the greatest day of the year, has come. Death, 
from the day he devoured Abel, had conquered number- 
less generations of men ; death now stretched his dark 
wings over the tomb of the crucified God and claimed 
the noble prey. But his victory was short. The blessed 
soul of Christ went down to the Limbo of the Patriarchs ; 
there to tell them of their deliverance. Frid'ay night, all 
day Saturday, and Saturday night, the soul of Jesus 
passed amidst the dead. Men before had risen from the 
grave by the power of God, but it was only for a time — 
death came again. But how different with our Lord. He 
rose the Victor over death, and the grim monster was to 
have no more dominion over him. 

All know the history of the resurrection. The soul of 
Jesus leaves the place of rest of the ancient Saints ; in an 
instant it has gone again into his sacred body. The blood 
comes back into his veins ; the wounds are healed, and 
he rises from the stone slab on which he rested ; he 
lays aside the shroud and the garments of the tomb ; he 
folds and lays by the linen garments with which the 
piety of the women had clothed his body, and at the 
break of day on Sunday, the first day of the week, with 
splendors far eclipsing the brightness of the sun, he rises 
from the dead. As the light passes through the clearest 
crystal, his body passed through the solid rock, and then 
the Angel came and rolled away the stone from the mouth 
of the sepulchre and sat upon it. 2 This is the testimony 
of all the Fathers writing or preaching on the resurrection 
of our Lord. 

The earth trembled in giving forth her Creator, 



Hymn Mat. Assen. 2 Math, xviii. 2. 



EASTER MORNING. 293 

transplendent splendors shone from the glorified body 
of our Lord; the guards, placed there by the Jews, 1 
became the witnesses of the resurrection. The seal upon 
the tomb and the guards around the grave, in the provi- 
dence of God, became the means of proving that he 
really rose from the dead. 

The most ancient traditions 2 tell us that he first appeared 
to his mother. The Gospels say nothing of it, for this 
apparition did not relate to our salvation like the others, 
but it was but the duty of the Son to soothe the grief 
of his Mother. After that he appeared twelve times to 
his followers, because, as St. Chrysostom says, he was to 
send his twelve Apostles to preach his death and 
resurrection to the ends of the earth. But we will refer 
the reader to the Bible for the history of the resurrection. 

The Catholics of Bohemia, Hungary, and of Poland, 
have continued the customs of the East in passing the 
whole of Holy Saturday night in prayer in the church, 
waiting for the morning, the moment of the resurrection, 
when the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament is held, 
wherein the Lord himself blesses his people. In some 
of the cities of Spain two processions come forth from the 
church before the rising of the sun on Easter morning. 
One carries the Blessed Sacrament under a gorgeous 
canopy of golden cloth, and the other an image of the 
Yirgin. In silence they pass through the streets of the 
,city till the rising of the sun, when they take off the dark 
veil, which till then covered the statue of the mother, 
and sing the beautiful hymn, "O, Queen of Heaven, 
Rejoice." All this is in remembrance of our Lord appear- 
ing to his mother when he rose from the dead. 

Regarding the origin of the hymn, an ancient tradition 
tells us that in the days of Gregory the Great a plague 
broke out in Borne. As in the times of David, the Pope 
prayed to God for his flock, and ordered all the people 
to march in a procession, carrying the picture of the 
Virgin Mother, painted by St. Luke. The great crowds 
went towards the Basilica of St. Peter's. Coming to the 
bridge across the Tiber, suddenly a host of Angels were 
seen above the image, singing the following anthem : 



M^tU, xvii. 66, 2 St. Ambrose, etc, 



294 THE KISS OF PEACE. 

"Rejoice, 0, then, thou Queen of Heaven, 1 

Alleluia. 
For he to you to bear was given, 

Alleluia. 
As he said from death has risen, 

Alleluia." 
" 0, pray to God we be forgiven, 

Alleluia." 

cried out the holy Pontiff, and the exterminating Angel 
was seen on the summit of Adrian's mausoleum sheathing 
his destroying sword. From that time Adrian's Tomb 
has been called the Castle of St. Angelo, 2 and the anthem 
is said at the end of the Offices of the Breviary during 
the Easter Season. 

Another of the customs of the East was to give the 
brotherly kiss of peace at the moment when the 
resurrection was announced. Men and women were each 
in different places in the church in these times, and 
there was no danger of temptation. That continued till 
the XVIth century, when the sexes were no more divided, 
but families sat together as they do now, when, on 
account of the abuses and the danger of temptations, the 
custom of the people saluting each other with a holy 
kiss was discontinued. As in our times we read that in 
the IVth and Yth centuries the priests of the country, with 
crowds of their people, used to come to the cathedrals 
there with their beloved bishop, to be present at the 
blessing of the Holy Oils, the baptism of the converts, 
and the celebration of Easter. 3 The Councils forbid the 
rich to leave the city for the watering places till after the 
holidays. 4 

At, Kome on Easter Sunday, the Station is in the 
Basilica of St. Mary Major, that queen of all the churches 
dedicated to the Queen of Heaven throughout the world. 
The Mass of Easter is said in her church because, of all 
the Apostles, and disciples, and the followers of our 
Lord, she kept the faith when he was dead, and firmly 
believed that he would rise again from the grave. During 
the latter ages, when St. Peter's was built, because it is 
so large as to hold a greater number of people, they now 
hold the Services there. 5 To-day the holy water is not 



1 Translated by the author. 2 Rome, by Dr. Nelligan, p. 241. 3 Gueranger, Le 
Temps Paschal, p. 186. 4 Concil. Agd. et Orlean. I. iv. Ep. etc. 5 Gueranger, Le 
Temps Paschal, p. 190. 



THE, J?OPE DURING EASTER SERVICES. 295 

blessed as on the other Sundays of the year, for it was 
blessed on Holy Saturday before at the blessing of the 
baptismal font. 1 In many of the churches of France, 
and in some parts of Europe, they sing the beautiful 
hymn, composed by Yenance Fortunat, Bishop of Poi- 
tiers : "Hail, Festal Day, in Every Age so Holy." 

The Gospel of to-day is taken from St. Luke, who was 
the disciple of St. Peter, and wrote his Gospel at Eome 
under the very eyes of the Prince of the Apostles. In the 
book, " Teaching Truth by Signs and Ceremonies," the 
author gives the whole services for Easter Sunday, and 
the reader is referred to it for an explanation of the 
Church and her services. 

During the middle ages, while the Pope was reciting 
the Secret of the Easter Mass, the two youngest Cardi- 
nals, vested in white dalmatics, came and stood at the 
two ends of the altar and turned towards the people. 
They represented the two Angels who guarded the tomb 
of the risen Saviour, when they appeared to the holy 
women and told them of the resurrection. The Cardi- 
nals remained there till the words of the Mass, "The 
Lamb of God," when the Pope returned to his throne. 
After the benediction given by the Pope, he came down 
the steps of his throne, his brow crowned with the tiara, 
the triple crown ; with great ceremony he was carried on 
the shoulders of his admiring people to the chief nave 
of the Church, where, at a certain place, he came down 
and fell upon his bended knees. One of the attending 
clergymen then exposed the wood of the true cross to the 
Pontiff and to the people, with, at the same time, the 
handkerchief of Veronica, having the picture of the sacred 
face of our Lord imprinted on it, when he was on his way 
to Calvary. These ceremonies are to show forth the 
wonders of the resurrection by exposing the instruments 
of the Passion, while celebrating the glories of his rising 
from the dead. Christianity in the person of its head, 
thus adores Christ. Afterwards he is carried to the gal- 
lery from which he gives the Apostolic blessing to the 
crowds of people assembled below. 

For many centuries, while the Pope lived in the Lateran 
Palace and celebrated the Easter ceremonies in the 



1 Gueranger, Ibidem, p. 191. 




York. Minster, 



EASTER IN ANCIENT TIMES. 297 

Church of St. Mary Major, after Mass all went into the 
Festal Hall, built and decorated by Leo III., where ta- 
bles were prepared for five Cardinals, five Deacons and 
the Dean of the Church, near the Pontiff. They brought 
the paschal lamb, and, saying grace, the Pope announced 
that the time of fasting was gone, and then served the 
others at the table. Grave and simple was the joy with 
which that dinner was eaten, while the choir sang, and 
they played the music of the ancient Romans which had 
come down by tradition. Such are some of the simple 
customs of the middle ages. 

We have given but a few ideas relating to the resurrec- 
tion ceremonies of our Lord on the first day of the week, 
when he created the light, which was but a material fig- 
ure of himself, who is " the light of the world," " enlight- 
ening every one who cometh into this world." This 
thought is beautifully expressed in the Gothic Missal of 
Spain, and is found in all the Liturgies of the Church, for 
they all agree in celebrating, with the greatest pomp and 
ceremony, the day when our Lord rose from the dead. 

As Easter is the greatest Sunday, so the week follow- 
ing is the greatest week of the year. In ancient times 
the days of this week were kept like one whole feast. In 
389 the Emperor Theodosius forbid law courts to be held 
during this week. St. Augustine tells us how these days 
were to be celebrated. 1 St. Chrysostom says : " During 
these seven days you rejoice at hearing the divine instruc- 
tions of the people ; because of your coming together, we 
allow you to come to the spiritual table." 2 * * * Such 
was the desire of the people to see the beauties of the 
services, that the churches were crowded on these days. 
Many laws were made by the old Councils. In 585 a law 
was enacted forbidding all servile works during the week 
following Easter. 3 The same was given in the Councils 
of Mayence 4 and of Meaux. 5 The same were the commands 
of the Spanish and the Greek churches. Charlemagne, 
Louis the Pious, and Charles the Bald sanctioned these 
laws in their Codes. The Liturgical writers of the Xlth 
and Xllth centuries, speak of the custom of celebrating 
Easter week. Gregory IX. gives it force in his Decrees 



De Ser. Dom. in Monte. 2 Horn. V. de Eesur. 3 Concil. Macon. 4 813. 5 815, 



298 THE WEEK AFTEE EASTEB. 

in the Xlllth century. But the people did not keep the 
days holy any more, as in the times of the followers of the 
Apostles ; and in 1094 a Council shortened the holidays 
to Monday and Tuesday after Easter. 1 Beleth in the 
Xllth and Durand in the Xlllth centuries, say that this 
was the custom in their times among the French. Thus, 
the people became so relax in keeping these days, that in 
the Concordat between the Holy See and the first Napo- 
leon, the people were allowed to observe only Easter 
Sunday. 2 

This week is set apart to the care and instruction of 
the newly baptized, and many of the services of the week 
allude to their baptismal innocence. During this week 
no Masses with black vestments are allowed for the dead, 
except funeral Masses, when the body is present, for we 
are celebrating the resurrection of our Lord. 

At Borne the Station of Monday is held in the great 
Church of St. Peter. Baptized on Saturday in the Lat- 
eran Basilica of the Saviour, they attended the solemni- 
ties of Easter, celebrated in the Church of St. Mary 
Major, and it is but right that they come to show their 
love and esteem for St. Peter, the Prince of the Apostles. 
To-day, in the Gospel, is given the history of the three 
disciples who went to Emmaus, and now our Lord came 
and joined them on the way, and taught them the figures 
and the prophecies relating to him in the Old Testament, 
and they knew him in the breaking of bread. 3 

Tuesday the baptized hear Mass in the Basilica of St. 
Paul, for their fourth duty was to return their thanks, 
and offer their love to the Apostle of the nations, the 
companion of St. Peter, and his associate in martyrdom. 
Thus, the Station of Tuesday is held in St. Paul's Church 
in Borne, where his body is kept with holy care. To-day 
the Church celebrates the time when our Lord appeared 
to his disciples and said, " Peace be to you," 1 when he 
showed them his wounds, when he opened to them the 
Scriptures, so that they could understand the types and 
figures of him in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, 
and in the Psalms. 5 

On Wednesday the Station is at St. Lawrence's Church, 
because, in the first ages, baptism was followed so often 

1 Concil. Const. 2 In 1801. 3 Luke xxiv. 31. 4 Luke xxiv. 36. 5 Luke xxiv. 



THE ANCIENT PANTHEON. 299 

by martyrdom, that the baptized came this day to the 
tomb of this great martyr, to learn heroism for the faith 
by his example. To-day we read in the Gospel which 
tells of the time onr Lord appeared to his disciples on 
the shore of the sea of Galilee and told them to throw 
the net on the right side of the vessel, and they could 
scarcely draw it to the shore, there were so many fishes. 1 

The newly baptized go on Thursday to the Basilica of 
the Twelve Apostles, where repose the bodies of the 
Apostles, SS. Philip and James. The Gospel gives the 
history of the two Angels appearing to Mary Magdalen, 
and our Lord coming and showing himself to her. 2 

When Rome was converted from the darkness of 
paganism to the light of the Gospel, the venerable 
Pantheon of Agrippa was purified and turned into the 
Church of St. Mary at the Martyrs. It was given to 
Pope Boniface IY. by the Emperor Phocas, and ever 
since it has been dedicated to the Mother of God, and to 
all the Saints and holy Martyrs. There the Station of 
Friday is held. There from the Yllth century the 
baptized come this day to be present at the services 
of the Church. The Gospel is taken from St. Matthew 3 
and gives the history of our Lord after his resurrection, 
sending forth his Apostles into all nations to preach the 
Gospel, and to baptize " In the name of the Father, and 
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 4 

Saturday after Easter is called Whit Saturday, because 
then the newly baptized since Holy Saturday used to 
wear white garments till the following Saturday, as a 
sign of the innocence and the purity of their souls after 
baptism, and that they were not to stain again their con- 
science with sin. 

At Rome the Station to-day is in the Basilica of the 
Lateran, near Constantine's Baptistry, where they were 
baptized on Holy Saturday. They unite again in the 
darkness of the night, and led by the Paschal candle 
there, they put off their white robes, and heard for the 
first time the whole of the Mass. No other place was so 
apt to leave a lasting impression on their minds as that 
Baptistry, where they were washed from sin, and that 



1 John xxi. 9 John zx. 3 Math, xxviii. * Math, xxviii. 19. 



300 THE SUNDAY FOLLOWING EASTER. 

Church, the Mother and the Cathedral of all the churches 
of Eome and of the world. The Gospel, taken from St. 
John, 1 tells us of Mary Magdalen coming early in the 
morning to the sepulchre, and of SS. John and Peter 
running to the grave to find that their Lord had risen 
from the dead. 

II. — Low Sunday. 

The first Sunday after Easter is called Low Sunday, 
because for the first time the baptized came to the 
Church without their white robes, which they have worn 
since their baptism on Holy Saturday. 2 It is also called 
"Quasimode," from the first word with which the 
services begin. In ancient times they named it Close 
Easter, because it closed the Easter week. It is of such 
importance that no other feast is ever allowed to be 
celebrated on this day. 

Low Sunday is also the Octave of Easter, 3 and from 
this day begins the time when the race of Adam is 
reconciled again to God. Before Christ was the time 
when the race went farther and farther from God. Except 
the Jews all the races of men were idolaters. Our Lord 
came to save them. He paid the price, and that 
redemption is applied to our souls by the Mass and the 
sacraments. From this time to the end of the ecclesiasti- 
cal year we represent the redemption of the members of 
the race — called the summer and the autumn time of the 
year. 

During the time of fasting and of penance before 
Easter, we read the history of the law and the prophecies, 
which relate to and prepared the world for the coming 
and the death of Christ, for Advent, Septuagesima Time, 
Lent and Holy Week, which were but figures of the world 
before the coming of our Lord. After Easter we read 
the Acts of the Apostles, 4 but especially the Book of the 
Apocalypse, for, as the Easter Time typifies the glories 
of heaven, so the Apocalypse tells us of many visions of 
our home amidst the skies. 5 



1 John xx. 2 El Porque de las Ceremonias, c. xii. Sabado Santo. 3 St. Aug. 
Sermo CCLIX. in Die Dom. post Pasch. 4 St. Aug. vol. xxi. 122. 5 Durandus, Ra- 
tionale Div. 1. vi. c. xcvii. n. 3. 



MEANING OF EASTER WEEK. 301 

Formerly, during Easter Time, servants were ac- 
customed to correct their masters, 1 and a rule was made 
relating to married people receiving holy Communion at 
Easter. 2 Farmers were not allowed to work during the 
three days following Easter, or women spin, or dances 
held. The converts who were baptized on Holy Satur- 
day, and were well instructed in our holy religion, were 
confirmed on Low Sunday, and for that ceremony they 
wore their white garments, because the Angels who 
appeared at the sepulchre were clothed in white, and 
because it is the color of innocence and of joy. 

From Easter to Low Sunday, for seven days, we 
celebrate the resurrection of our Lord, for we are to be 
filled with the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost while in this 
life, that we may celebrate his glories in heaven. The 
days of this week are to be taken as one whole day. For 
that reason, in the Offices and the Services of the 
Church, this week for " this day " is mentioned in the 
Preface and in the Breviary. After these days comes 
Low Sunday, the Octave of Easter, for after our good 
lives spent here, when we are filled with the sevenfold 
gifts of the holy Spirit, comes the everlasting Octave of 
this life in heaven, where our Easter of praises and 
thanksgivings will never end. As on Easter Sunday, we 
say only three Psalms during these seven days, for they 
tell of the three heavenly virtues of faith, hope and char- 
ity infused into the souls of the converted with the seven 
gifts of the Spirit of God, when they were baptized. 
Nine lessons are to be said on all the Sundays of the 
year, but for these reasons an old Council, following the 
traditions of the Apostles, stated that during these days 
following Easter only three Lessons are to be Said. 3 

Sunday is the Lord's day. That is the day forever 
dedicated to the resurrection of our Lord, but' it is also 
in a secondary way devoted to the glory and the praises 
of the Holy Trinity. For that reason three Nocturns are 
always said, and the Preface of the Holy Trinity sung at 
the Masses during the Sundays of the year. 4 

The Alhanasian creed is not said, for "it belongs to faith, 
but this Time tells us of heaven, where there will be no 



12 q. 2, Quest. 2 p e cone. Diet. 2 Omnis homo, s Concil. Magun. * Ord. R 



302 GOD BECOMES MAN TO-DAY. 

more faith but everlasting charity, the love of God above 
all. In the same way we ask not the aid of God's Saints, 
for there in heaven we will not want God's aid any more 
against temptation. 

In Eome on Low Sunday the Station is in the Basilica 
of St. Pancrasius in the Via Auralia. Writers do not 
tell us why that church was chosen for the Services of 
to-day, but some think it was because of the tender age 
of fourteen years at which the holy martyr suffered, so 
that his example may encourage the newly converted 
and baptized to keep the faith through the trials of life. 

The Gospel comes from St. John, where he tells us of 
our Lord appearing to his Apostles, and saying twice to 
them: " Peace be with you." He breathed upon them 
and said : "Receive ye the Holy Ghost; whose sins you 
shall forgive they are forgiven, and whose sins you shall 
retain they are retained," 1 giving them the power to sit, 
and in his name and by his power to forgive sins. Then 
he showed his wounds to Thomas, who would not be- 
lieve. 2 

III.— The Annunciation. 

On the 25th of March, each year, the Church celebrates 
the mystery of the incarnation of our Lord. The origin 
of this feast goes back to the time of the Apostles. 3 The 
ancient Councils made laws relating to the feast, 4 and the 
most ancient writers tell of the mystery and of the feast. 5 

In some of the churches of Europe in the early times, 
they celebrated the feast on the 18th of January, in oth- 
ers on the 18th of December, but that was only for a time. 
Soon knowing that according to the laws of nature, the 
God-child who was born on the 25th of December, was 
conceived nine months before on the 25th of March. Ac- 
cording to the Latin Bite, from the very beginning of the 
Church the feast was always held on the 25th of March. 
It happens sometimes that this day falls during the week 
before, or the week following, Easter. As at that time 
the Church is celebrating either the sufferings of our 



i John xx. 23. 2 John xx. 3 Benedictus XIV. De Festis B. V. Mariae. c. iv. n. 
17 ; V. Bede de Locis Sanctis. S. Jerome ad. Marcel. El Porque, Trat. C. c. xiii., 
Boland. * concil. Toletan. Collect. Labb. p. 460. 5 Micrologus, c. xlviii. Kudolphus, 
Prop. xvi. etc. 



THE CONCEPTION OF CHRIST. 303 

Lord in his passion or his glories after the resurrection, 
then the ceremonies of the Annunciation are put off till 
the first Monday after Low Sunday. 

This feast has been considered by all Christians as a 
day of great importance, as to-day the Lord and Creator 
of all things, took our nature and in the Yirgin became 
man. 1 The conception of Christ took place in a wonderful 
way, and was above all the powers of nature. In a moment, 
in the twinkling of an eye, God and man were united, and 
our nature raised up to the throne of the Divinity. His per- 
fect body was formed from the purest blood of his Mother. 
At that moment Christ became a priest forever, and a 
true King of a spiritual and everlasting kingdom. Ac- 
cording to St. Thomas the Divinity was united to our 
nature through his highest manly power ; his mind, 2 his 
Divine mind saw all things, the past, the present, and the 
future. His human mind was happy in seeing his Divin- 
ity face to face. From that moment, then, he had the 
use of all his faculties, and not like other children who 
have to wait till they are about seven years of age. 3 With 
these wondrous gifts and privileges was the conception 
of Christ beautified, from which one can easily conclude 
that it was miraculous and above nature. 4 

The Annunciation took place in Joseph's house, where 
Mary, his wife, lived, 5 at the moment she gave her con- 
sent. 6 We cannot tell at what time of the day the Angel 
came. 7 She was a little girl of fourteen years of age. It 
was on the 25th of March. The authority of the Church 
guards the tradition that Christ was conceived, and that he 
died on the 25th of March. 8 Such is the voice of all the 
works of the past, the writings of the Greeks, of the Copts, 
of the Syrians, of the Chaldean Christians, and of all 
works of past ages. 9 Such is the tradition of the Apostles. 10 

At the Mass the history of the Annunciation, as given 
by St. Luke, is read, 11 where he speaks of the Angel going 
in and telling the Blessed Virgin that she would become 
a mother. Before that she had vowed her virginity to 



1 Suarez, t. i. de Kelig. 1. ii c. 5. 2 St. Thomas, 3 p. q. vi. art. 11. etc. 3 Benedic- 
ts XIV. De Fest. B. M. Virginis, c. iii, n. 13. 4 P. Graveso de Myst. et An. Christi, 
Dis. II. and Benedictus XIII. de B. Virg. Ser. xiv. p. 1. 5 St. Bernard. Horn. iii. 
sup. Mis. 6 Theop. Baynaudus, p. 52 ; Saxius de Laud. Marias, P. I., p. 91, etc. 
7 Benedictus XIV. Ibidem, n. 14. 8 St. Augustine de Trinitate, iv. c. 56. 8 Benedic- 
ts XIV. Ibidem, n. 14. l0 Bolandists, ad. 36 Martini. ll Luke i. 



304 IN KEMEMBEANCE OF PETER'S COMING. 

God, and she was troubled to hear that she was to be- 
come a mother, but when she learned that she would 
bring forth, and before, and in, and after that birth, she 
was to always remain a virgin, gave her consent. 

On the 25th of April, having left his disciple, St. Evod- 
ius, in his place as bishop of Antioch, St. Peter entered 
the great city of Rome, and there fixed his See as first 
Pope. From that time the Christians of Eome celebrated 
his coming by reciting the Litany of the saints during the 
ten terrible persecutions which followed. 1 A feast in 
honor of the coming of the Prince of the Apostles used 
to be celebrated, but often interfering with the services 
of Low Sunday, it was discontinued. 2 Because the feasts 
of the Easter Season change each year, the people of 
Rome recited these Litenies at different times, till Pope 
Gregory the Great appointed them to be said on the 25th 
of April. 3 In the same way the feast of the Apostle St. 
Mark was held at different times on account of so many 
feasts of Easter coming in this season, till later St. 
Mark's feast was fixed on the 25th of April. Thus, 
although one does not relate to the other, we say the 
Litanies on the feast of St. Mark. 4 

During the first ages the Romans abstained from eat- 
ing meat on that day, and when the Roman Rite was 
brought to France by Pepin and Charlemagne, the great 
Litany of the 26th of April came with it. One of the 
councils of France forbade all manual labor on that day, 5 
but the custom of keeping the day holy is not now observed 
in any part of the world, because the people became re- 
lax. When St. Charles Borromeo became archbishop of 
Milan he found that the clergy only marched in the pro- 
cession, and he commanded all the people to be present 
and to walk in their bare feet. 

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before Ascension 
Thursday are called Rogation days, from the Latin, 
which means a request, a prayer. They are days of 
penance and of prayer. Why does the Church interrupt 
the joys of the Easter season by these days of penance 
and of self-denial? The Holy Ghost, who was sent to 



1 Moretti, De Fest. in Hon. Priucip, Apost. Rom. 4. 2 Sacrament. Leon. 3 See El 
Porque de las Ceremonia?, c. xxi., De las Letanis, etc. 4 Gueranger, Le Temps 
Taschal, vol. ii. p. 448, et seq. 5 Council of Aix-la-Chapelle in 836. 



ANTIQUITY OF PROCESSIONS. 305 

remain and forever to be with and guide the Church, 
directs these things. They go back to the Vth century. 
St. Mamert was then archbishop of Vienna. All kinds 
of misfortunes threatened that province of ancient Gaul. 
Earthquakes, fires, storms and pestilences afflicted the 
people. When the saintly bishop commanded three days 
of fasting and of penance to be held before the Ascension, 
they ceased as by the power of God. St. Avit, his suc- 
cessor, tells us that these days were everywhere held in 
his time. 1 When the Goths, the Huns and the barbari- 
ans of the north of Europe and the west of Asia, threat- 
ened to devastate the fairest portions of southern Eu- 
rope, then the three days of Rogation and of prayer be- 
fore Ascension spread into every part of the Church. 
We see that the question was stated in the council of 
Orleans, 2 and that they had extended to every part of 
the Clovis empire. That assembly of the bishops com- 
manded their people not only to abstain from meat, but 
also to fast from food. Later, the council of Tours sanc- 
tioned the same law. 3 At that time they used to march 
in long processions, beseeching the favors of heaven, and 
as they were days kept like Sunday, all the people used 
to take part in them. St. Cesarius tells us that the pro- 
cessions sometimes lasted six hours, all the people pray- 
ing and singing hymns. 4 Before they set out on their 
march, they all received ashes on their heads, like on 
Ash Wednesday, while the clergy and the people walked 
bare-footed, as a sign of fasting and of penance. Histo- 
rians tell us that the Emperor Charlemagne, on these 
days put away his sandals and went with the common 
people from his palace to the church, where the Mass 
was said. 5 St. Elizabeth, queen of Hungary, gave the same 
example to her peojDle. 6 Toward the end of the YHIth 
century, Rome adopted the custom under the Pontificate 
of Leo III. Before that, in the Yllth century, it was 
spread into Spain and through the south of Europe. 

The Litany of the Saints said on these days goes back 
to the earliest times, but we cannot find out the exact 
date. The word Litany comes from the Greek, and 
means a prayer or a supplication, for by the intercession 



1 Horn, de Rogat. 2 Can. xxvii. 3 567, c. xvii. 4 Ser. 174, Herb. Tur. Mir. 1. i, 
q, 31, 5 De Reb. Bel. Caroli, Mag. c. xvi. 6 Suruis Die 19 Noy. 



306 



HE ASCENDED INTO HEAVEN. 



of the saints, the friends of God, the early Christians, 
prayed when they wished to receive some special ben- 
efit. Again, these days of prayer were held to call down 
the blessings of heaven on the fruits of the earth. And 
well are they said in the spring time of the year, when 
the earth is clothed with verdure and nature puts on its 
sweetest smiles, the hope of a bountiful harvest. 1 We 
find some beautiful hymns, composed by the saints of the 
middle ages, praising God for his benefits, and calling 
down the grace of God on the people during these three 
days. 2 

IV. — The Ascension. 

On Thursday following the fifth Sunday after Easter, 
we celebrate the Ascension of our Lord. 3 For forty days 
after he rose from the dead he remained with his apos- 
tles, 4 to teach them that he was truly risen, to explain to 
them the types and the figures which foretold him in the 
Old Testament, and to send them forth into the world to 
preach, to teach and to save the redeemed race. The 
solemnity of the Ascension was instituted by the 
apostles 5 on Thursday, for tradition tells us that at noon 6 
this day he went up into heaven. 7 The Apostles had 
gathered all together in the large hall, where the first 
Mass was said by our Lord the night before he suffered, 
and he came and sat and eat with them. That upper 
hall is to be seen to-day in Jerusalem, and now the Turks 
occasionally allow the Holy Sacrifice to be celebrated 
within its holy walls. The Saviour led them out beyond 
the walls of Jerusalem. Five hundred witnesses followed 
him 8 along the road to Bethany, the length of a Sabbath 
day's journey, nearly a thousand paces, 9 to the Mount of 
Olives. 10 From there, before the eyes of all, by his own 
power, he went up into heaven, and a cloud received him 
from their sight. That cloud was the souls of the holy 
ones of the Old Testament, to whom he descended at the 
moment of his death, to tell them of the joyful news of 



1 Gueranger, Temps Paschal, vol. iii. p. 177. 2 Liturg. Gallic. Mamert. of Vienna, 
etc. 3 Benedictus XIV., De Fest. D. N. J. Christi, c. x. n. 1. 4 Fabri, Con. In Fest, 
As. Dom. Con. iv. n. 11. a St. Aug. vol. xxxviii. 488. 6 Constitut. Apost. 1,- v. c. xix. 
7 St. Augustine, Epist. xliv. c. i ; Martine, c. xxviii. n. 1. 8 I. Cor. xv. 6. 9 Bene- 
dicts XIV. Ibidem, n. 43. 10 Fabri, Conciones, In Feet. Assen. Dom. Con. iv. n. 1. 



IMPRESSIONS OF OUR SAVIOUR. 307 

their redemption. 1 These were the dead who came forth 
from the tomb, when the Son of God died on the cross, 
and appeared to many in the streets of the holy city. 
Then having fulfilled their mission of being present at 
the crucifixion of their Lord, whom they had longed to 
see, they laid themselves down again in death, till they 
will rise again, like all the children of Adam, when called 
at the general resurrection at the end of the world. 2 

The writers of the early times tell us that before he 
ascended from the earth, he left the marks of his holy 
feet in the rock, 3 as the prophet foretold. 4 

Even when Titus took and destroyed Jerusalem, the 
imprint of the Lord's feet remained, 5 and over them the 
Empress Helena built a beautiful church. From there 
she wrote to her son, the Emperor Constantine : " With 
worthy devotion, the impressions of our Saviour's feet are 
honored." 6 

In memory of the Ascension of our Lord, they used to 
have a procession each Thursday, in the first days of the 
Church, but afterwards, because the people could not 
always come on a week day, Pope Agapitus changed it 
to Sunday, when the people could all attend. 7 This pro- 
cession is spoken of by many writers of the early times, 8 
and appears to have been commenced by the early Chris- 
tians, to keep the people from attending the pagan pro- 
cession on this day in honor of Jupiter, and also to bless 
the bread and the new fruits of the earth. 9 There is no 
fast on the eve of the Ascension, because it falls within 
the Easter season. 10 

The paschal candle, which tells of Christ, the light of 
the world, is lighted from the time it is blessed on Holy 
Saturday, Easter Sunday, the three days following 
Easter, at the high Masses of all the Sundays and feasts, 
and at the vespers of the Easter season till Ascension 
Thursday, 11 when, after the Gospel is finished, it is 
quenched, to show that our Lord on this day, as the 
light of all men, went up into heaven. 12 



» Benedictus XIV. Ibidem, n. 49. 2 St. Thomas, 4 Sent. Dist. 43 qu. 1. a. 3 ; St. 
Augustine, Epist. 164 and nearly ail the Fathers. a St. Augustine, Tract. 37 s. 4 St. 
Paulinus Nolanus, Epist. li. ad Sever. 4 Zach. 14, 4. 5 Bailetus, Hist, de Myst. Assen. 
ft Eusebius, Vita Constantini, 1. lii. c. 42. 7 Durandus, Rationale Div. 1. iv. c. vi. n. 
21. 8 Greg. Turon. 1. v. Hist. Franc, c. 11. 9 Benedictus, Ibidem, n. 59. 10 Gavan- 
tus, Sec. vi. de Lit. Maj. c. 17. X1 Decrit. Cong. Rituurn of May, 1607. 12 Benedictus 
XIV. Ibidem, n, 60, 



308 BOSE SUNDAY. * 

From near Bethania the Lord ascended. And well was 
it called by this name, which in the Hebrew means obe- 
dience, for from that time, the Chnrch was to be formed 
by the obedience of all to the successors of the Apostles, 
and without obedience to God and to his church, no one 
can go to heaven. 1 

The services of to-day are held in Rome, in the great 
Church of St. Peter. What a happy thought, to unite 
around the tomb of the Apostles the faithrul followers 
of the Lord, who to-day ascended into heaven, where he 
sits at the right hand of the Father. For many ages the 
Pope, with the whole College of Cardinals, went to St. 
John Lateran to end these holy rites in the Church 
built by Constantine in honor of the Saviour. 

The Gospel of to-day is taken from St. Mark, and tells 
the history of our blessed Lord going up into heaven in 
the presence of all his holy followers. 

Such are a few thoughts on the feasts of our beloved 
Saviour, which year by year, and generation after genera- 
tion, we celebrate. Eighteen hundred years have passed, 
and still by yearly ceremonies, by rites and services, by 
the types and figures of our Church, his life, his works, 
his miracles and his life have, been brought before the 
minds of men. Thus it will be ever after, till the day of 
doom, till the angel's trumpet calls the dead to rise and 
come to judgment. 

The Sunday following Ascension, at Roine is called 
Rose Sunday, from the ancient custom of strewing the 
floors of the churches with roses and flowers in honor of 
the Lord, who says : "I am the flower of the fields and 
the lily of the valleys," 2 who in this time of bright fields 
and blooming flowers, ascended into heaven. As it falls 
within the octave of the Ascension, it is called the Sun- 
day within the Octave. 

Y. — Whitsunday. 

Before our Lord went up into heaven, he told his little 
band of followers to remain in Jerusalem till the coming 
of the Holy Ghost, who was to fill them with power from 



* Durandus, Eationale Div. 1. vi. c civ. n. 1. 2 Cant, of Cant. IV., 1, 



THE DESCENT OF THE HOLY GHOST. 309 

on high for their sublime mission of converting the world. 
They returned to the holy city, and for ten days they re- 
mained in the upper chamber in the home of Mary, the 
mother of St. Mark, 1 where the Last Supper was cele- 
brated, where so often the risen Lord appeared to them 
after his resurrection, and where the Holy Ghost came 
down upon them. 2 There they were in prayer at nine on 
Sunday morning, when suddenly they heard a sound like 
a great wind from heaven. The house trembled while 
tongues of fire came and sat upon the heads of the whole 
120 assembled persons. They were filled with grace, but 
that is not enough for those who preach the Gospel. 
They must be filled besides with the gifts of the Holy 
Ghost, to convert souls to God. The Holy Spirit could 
come in an unseen manner, but he came in the form of 
fire, to show that, as before, he came on Christ in the form 
of a dove at his baptism, 3 so now he comes in the form of fire 
as a sign of his power, to show that the Church is guided 
by him in the signs, symbols and the ceremonies of our 
services. He came in the form of fire, to tell the world 
that now the Apostles were to renew the earth by the 
fire of charity. As fire purifies all which passes through 
it, thus they were to purify the world. He came in the 
form of tongues, to show that by their preaching they 
were to renew the world, and that their eloquence and 
their power over the hearts of men come from the Spirit 
of God. He came with the sound of a mighty wind, for 
the word Spirit, in the ancient languages means a breath, 
a wind, for the Holy Ghost is as the breath of God heal- 
ing the souls of men. 

At that time Jerusalem was one of the most celebrated 
cities of Asia. Since Solomon raised his mighty temple, 
the fame of the city and of the sanctuary of the Lord of 
hosts had gone through the world. The Jews, given to 
trade, had wandered even to the ends of the earth. They 
used to come each year to the city of their forefathers to 
be present at the great festival of Pentecost. Great 
crowds from all parts of the world were in Jerusalem on 
that day. They were struck with wonder when they 
heard the vulgar fishermen of Galilee speaking all the 



1 Baronius, Jansenius, Canisius, Menocius, cte. 2 Benedictus XIV., de Fest., D. N. 
J. Christi, c. xi. n. 17 ; O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 18, note. 3 Math. iii. 16. 



% THE CHRISTIAN AND JEWISH PENTECOSTS. 

languages of the earth. The gift of tongues was given 
the Apostles so that they could preach to all nations. 
They said that they were drunk. Peter, the head, the 
first Pope — Peter filled with the Holy Ghost — then 
preached his first sermon, and convinced them that they 
had not been drinking. 1 On that day he converted and 
baptized three thousand persons. Peter spoke for all. 2 
Before that day they were timid and afraid. They had 
no strength. They ran away from the sad scene of the 
crucifixion. They hid themselves in the upper chamber, 
but from the moment they received the Holy Ghost they 
became like other men. They were filled with strength 
from the Spirit of God within them, and died at the 
hands of the people whom they converted to the Gospel. 

Such are but a few of the traditions coming down to 
us, relating to the great Christian Pentecost, after Easter, 
the greatest feast of the Church, of which the Jewish 
Pentecost was but a figure. 3 Fifty days from the time 
the children of Israel celebrated the ceremony of the eat- 
ing of the paschal lamb, they held their services of Pen- 
tecost, when God gave to Moses his law of the ten com- 
mandments, carved on tablets of stone. 4 Fifty days from 
the resurrection of our Lord, the Holy Ghost gave the 
law of the New Testament written in the hearts of the 
Apostles. 5 The law of the Old Testament was given on 
Sinai's top, amid the winged lightnings. The law of the 
New Testament was given amid the fiery flame of tongues 
in the upper chamber. As the Hebrews, after they were 
delivered from the slavery of Egypt, fifty days after eat- 
ing the paschal lamb, received the law on Mount Sinai, 
thus, after the sufferings of our Lord, who was the true 
Lamb of God who was sacrificed, fifty days after his re- 
surrection the Holy Ghost comes down on the Apostles 
and on those who believed. 6 

All writers of the past tell us that on Sunday the Holy 
Ghost came upon the Apostles. 7 On this day the world 
began ; on this day, by the resurrection of Christ, true 
spiritual life began and death ended ; on this day the 
Apostles received the command to teach all nations, and 



1 Act ii. 2 St. Chrysostom, Horn. IV. in Act. Apost. c. ii. 3 Isidore, 1. i. de Of. Eccl. 
c. xxxii. 4 St. Aug. Contra. Faust, lxxxii. n. 12. 5 St. Chrysostom. 6 St. Leo, Ser. 
lxxiii. de Pent. i. c. i. 7 Const. Clement, St. August. Ser. CLIV., de Temp. 



APOSTOLIC ORIGIN OF PENTECOST. 311 

to baptize them, as Blessed John, the evangelist, says r 1 
" The Lord came and breathed on them, saying : ' Receive 
ye the Holy Ghost,' " and finally on this day the Holy 
Ghost came down into the world. 2 

Pentecost has been celebrated by the Church since the 
days of the Apostles. 3 " From the times of the Apostles 
the custom began of standing during the services of Eas- 
ter and of Pentecost," as Blessed Irenseus, the martyr and 
Bishop of Lyons, says. 4 In the first centuries of the Church, 
the whole time from Easter to Pentecost was so holy that 
it was considered like one continual Sunday, 5 but the peo- 
ple were not commanded to cease from work. 6 During 
these days, from the first Monday after Whitsunday, the 
Acts of the Apostles are read, for as St. Chrysostom says, 
there is found a history of their works. Then we read 
their Epistles, for there we find their words. 

The two great days when the converts used to be bap- 
tized are Holy Saturday and the eve of Pentecost, 7 and 
for that reason the services of the Church on these two 
days are very much alike. Formerly the baptismal 
font 8 and the paschal candle were blessed on the Satur- 
day before Whitsunday. The converts were baptized on 
Holy Saturday, to signify that they were buried with 
Christ, while they were baptized on the eve of Whitsun- 
day, according to the words of our Lord, " You will be 
baptized by the Holy Ghost," 9 and following the example 
of St. Peter, who on Pentecost baptized three thousand 
persons. 10 They are baptized on Saturday and not on 
Pentecost Sunday, in imitation of our Lord, who lay 
buried in the tomb on Saturday. From Easter to Whit- 
sunday, at any time, converts were baptized and confirm- 
ed during this season. In some churches of these early 
times, when they sang the hymn, " Come, Holy Spirit," 
trumpet tones imitated the sound of the wind, and tongues 
of fire were thrown from the roof of the buildings, to re- 
call the coming of the Holy Ghost on the apostles. 11 This 
took place especially in Italy. 12 But because these cus- 



] John xx. 2 St. Leo, Epist. xi. alias xviii. ad Cios. c. i. t, Op., p. 220. 3 Justinus, 
quest. 145. 4 Lib. de Pasch. ; See S. Leo the Great Ser. lxxv. de Pent. i. c. i., p. 155 ; 
Tertul. De Idol., c. xiv. 5 Concil. Illiber. c. xlii. 6 Benedictus XIV., Ibidem, n. 34. 
7 Epist. Siricii ad. Him. Tar. Leon. Mag. Epist. 4 et 80, Gelas. Epist. i. c. 12. 8 El 
Porque de las Ceremonias, c. iv. 9 Acts i. S. 10 Acts ii. 41. " "Durandus, 1. vi., c. 
xvii. 12 Ctserus 1. i. de Fest. c. xxviii. 



812 THE PENTECOST SERVICES. 

toms used to sometimes frighten the people, tliey were 
not continued. 1 The eve of Pentecost is a fast day. 2 

The word Whitsunday comes from the old Saxon word 
meaning White Sunday, because the newly baptized used 
to attend the services of this Sunday clothed in their white 
baptismal robes ; it is also called Pentecost Sunday. The 
word Pentecost comes from two Greek words, which mean 
five and ten, that is, fifty, for it always falls on the fiftieth 
day after Easter. 3 For seven days we celebrate the giving 
of the Holy Ghost with his sevenfold gifts, although our 
salvation is the work of the three Persons of the Holy 
Trinity, for the works of the Trinity are one and the same, 4 
but the work of the Trinity in the salvation of the race is 
never to end. Pentecost has an Octave during the week, 
like the other great feasts of the year, 5 but the feast of 
the Holy Trinity falls on the Sunday following. The 
Matin Office of Pentecost and of the week following 6 have 
but three Psalms and three lessons, showing the work 
of our redemption, finished with the coming of the Holy 
Ghost in the work of the three Persons of the Holy 
Trinity. 7 In the Holy Scriptures the Holy Ghost is 
called the Paraclete, 3 from the Greek, meaning our Ad- 
vocate, our Comforter ; for that reason he was sent to 
remain with the followers of our Lord forever, and com- 
fort them in this life. 

In the middle ages Pentecost was called Eose Easter, 
and the Sunday before it was called Eose Sunday, be- 
cause the red roses which, in their simple piety, the people 
plucked from the fields and decked their churches re- 
minded them of the red fiery tongues in which the Holy 
Ghost came down on the Apostles. For the same reason 
to recall the fiery tongues, the vestments of the clergy to- 
day are red. In some of the churches of these early 
times they used to set at liberty in the church white 
doves, to remind them of the Holy Ghost coming down on 
our Lord in the form of a dove. 9 

At Eome the Station is held in the Basilica of St. 
Peter, to recall by these services in the Cathedral of 



i Baillet, Hist. huj. diei S. ii., n. 7. 2 Dist. vi. c. Nosse et Ibidem, c. Scire. 3 St. 
Aug, Contra. Faust, 1., xxxii. n. 12. 4 De Cone. Dist. iv. 5 Pope Clement Extra. De 
Fer. Capel. 6 Concil. Magnnt. et De Consec, dist. 5. 7 Durandus, Eationale Div. 1. 
vi., c. cvii., n. 3. 8 St. Aug. In Joan. Evang. t. lxxiv., n. iv. 9 Durand., Rationale ; 
Meno. etc. 



PENTECOST TRADITIONS. 3.13 

tlie world, dedicated to the Prince of the Apostles, his 
inspired eloquence on that first Pentecost, when he con- 
verted the three thousand from the people of Jerusalem. 1 
The Pope with the Cardinals then go to the Church of 
St. John Lateran, the mother of all the churches of Rome 
and of the world. 

At nine in the morning, tradition tells us, the Holy 
Spirit came down upon the Apostles, and his coming is 
recalled at this hour in the Hymn of Terce, composed by 
St. Ambrose, who is also the author of the Hymns of 
Sext and of None. But to-day this hymn, said each day 
throughout the year, gives place to another, longer and 
more beautiful : " O come, Creator Spirit," 2 which was 
composed by either the Emperor Charlemagne, Notherus, 
Robert, King of Prance, Herman, Contract, or Innocent 
II. We cannot find out which composed the Hymn said 
before Gospel : " Come, O Holy Spirit." 

The Gospel of the Mass is taken from St. John, 3 
and tells how our Lord, before his death, promised to 
send the Holy Ghost upon his Apostles. 

The seven days of Pentecost week are dedicated to the 
seven gifts of the Holy Ghost. Coming on the Apostles, 
he gave them three things to remain with them and their 
successors forever : the eloquence of the pulpit, figured 
by the fiery tongues ; the burning love of souls, typified 
by the fire, and the power of miracles represented by the 
great wind. Their eloquence is the " sword of the 
mouth," their love is the courage to die for God, and 
their miracles have attracted the eyes of the whole world 
in every age. 4 

On Monday the Services are held in the Basilica of 
St. Peter in Chains, called also the Church of Eudoxia, 
after the Empress who built it. There are guarded with 
holy care the chains with which Herod bound St. Peter 
in Jerusalem, and the chains with which he was bound 
by order of the impious Nero. The people are called to 
this church, to recall the gift*of strength given by the 
Holy Ghost to the Prince of the Apostles on Pentecost, 
by which he was able to suffer and to die for the Lord. 



1 Acts ii. 2 Veni Creator Spiritus. 3 Gueranger, Le Temps Paschal, vol. iii, p. 397. 
4 John iii. 




Denis in Paris. 



Chapter IX. — The After-Pentecost Season 



SEASONS RELATING TO THE AFTER-PENTECOST SEASON. 

We have finished the Feasts, the Fasts and the Seasons, 
which each year are held to recall the life, death, resur- 
rection and ascension of our Lord with the coming of the 
Holy Ghost. The history of the God-man, the wonder- 
ful work of the redemption, the glories of the risen 
Saviour, and the coming down of the Holy Spirit, each 
year are brought before the world by the rites, the ser- 
vices and the ceremonies of the Church. Take away the 
Church and her works, and, in one generation, God and all 
his wonders, performed for man's redemption, would be 
forgotten. Inspired by the Holy Ghost, the Apostles 
appointed these chief feasts, festivals and seasons* to be 
celebrated to keep forever before the world the coming 
of our Lord and the work of our salvation. 

Six months of the year is thus dedicated to the memory 
of our Saviour, while the six following months are dedi- 
cated to the work of God in the souls of men. Thus half 
the year is spent in celebrating the work of the Son of 
God when he lived upon this earth, while the other six 
months are set apart in which to celebrate the working 
of this redemption in our souls. Nature itself is in har- 
mony with all this, for in the winter season all is cold 
and dismal ; light has left the earth, a figure of the state 
of the pagan nations when the Lord came to redeem the 
race. The summer season is the most beautiful part of 
the year. The earth is green, while flowers cover the 
fields, all springing forth in bountiful plentiness, a type 
of the grace of redemption springing up into everlasting 
life in the souls of men. In the spring time the seed is 
sown ; in the spring time our redemption was sown by the 
death of our Lord ; in the summer the seeds spring forth 
and grow strong to bear the harvest of the autumn time; 
in the summer time the grace of God sown in the re- 



316 THE SUNDAYS AFTER PENTECOST. 

demption, springs forth in souls of Adam's children, grow- 
ing large and strong in godliness to bear the fruit of ever- 
lasting life, in the autumn time of eternity, when God will 
gather into his granary of heaven the souls of the saints, 
the fruits of redemption. 

Thus after the Easter Season we enter a new period of 
time, which differs from the others. From the beginning 
of Advent to the coming of the Holy Ghost, the mysteries 
of our salvation have been unfolded. That time was like 
a long series of feasts, of fasts, of ceremonies and of ser- 
vices, during which, as in a sublime drama, the work of 
the redemption of our race was renewed. This latter part 
of the year is not without its mysteries and its solemni- 
ties ; some joyful and glorious, some sweet and touching, 
all for the good and the growth of Christian holiness in 
the souls of men, to end at Advent, when again we will 
begin the same solemnities of another year. 

The After-Pentecost Season is longer or shorter than 
six months, according to the time when Easter falls. This 
season has come down to us from the times of the Apos- 
tles. It is sometimes made up of twenty-eight weeks and 
sometimes of only twenty-three. The Sundays of this 
season are called the Sundays after Pentecost. Such are 
their names in the most ancient books in the olden Mis- 
sals and in the quaint Sacramentaries of the ages past. 
Such is their name in the writings of Alcuin in the Vlllth 
century. 1 In some of the ancient books these Sundays 
are divided into five series. The first is called the Sun- 
days after Pentecost, the second the Sundays after the 
Feast of the Apostles, 2 the third the Sundays after St. 
Lawrence, 3 the fourth the Sundays of the Seventh Month, 4 
while the fifth was called the Sundays after St. Michael. 5 
These were their names in some of the oldest Missals and 
books used in the services of the Church from the middle 
ages till the XVItli century. When Pope Pius V. pub- 
lished his Missal, following the customs of the Apostolic 
ages, and wiping out the Missals which for more than two 
hundred years before his time had been changing, the 
Sundays of this Season appear again with their old title, 
The Sundays after Pentecost. 6 

1 Com. 2 SS. Peter and Paul, 29th of June. 3 St. Lawrence the Martyr, 10th of 
August. 4 September. 5 St. Michael the Archangel, 29th September. 6 Domin. post 
Pentecosten. 



THE TWO TEMPLES OF THE HOLY GHOST. 317 

That we may well understand the meaning of the time 
of the year in which we are now, we must remember the 
other Seasons through which we have passed. Each 
ceremony, each service was to make its influence felt in 
our souls. At Christmas, Christ was born in us; in 
Septuagesima Time he did penance for us ; during Lent 
he fasted to show us an example ; at Passion Time he 
died for us ; he rose on Easter that we might rise from the 
death of sin ; he went up into heaven to open to us its 
gates of everlasting glory, and from the right hand of 
his Father he sent down the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of 
truth, to live with us and to abide in our hearts. Thus 
all was done that Christ might be formed in us. 1 The 
Holy Ghost then came into the world to live in the 
hearts and in the souls of men, to help them in their 
work of saving their souls. That same Spirit of God, 
who came on our Lord with his sevenfold gifts, comes 
on each one of us and leads us on to our salvation. 
That time of the work of the third Person of the Holy 
Trinity in the world is called the After-Pentecost Season. 

Two temples the Holy Ghost inhabits, the Church and 
the Christian soul. For this was he sent into the world. 
" I will send you another Paraclete, who will teach you all 
things and who will abide with you forever." 2 By his 
strength and by his power, the holy Church, the Bride of 
the Lamb, goes on in her conquering career, gaining souls 
to God. Holiness and truth are in her. Unchanging in 
her teaching received from her founder, Christ ; changing 
in discipline to accommodate herself to the different cus- 
toms of peoples ; kept from error by the Spirit of truth ; 
obedient to her clergy, her commanders, like an army in 
battle array, she advances in this holy time after Pente- 
cost to the conquest of souls, to battle with the old 
enemy of our race. Nothing on earth can be compared to 
her. She is above kings and governments. She is inde- 
pendent of earth. She is the mountain on the top of 
mountains. 3 Persecuted for a time, yet she is always 
triumphant. Guided by the Holy Gliost she converts, 
sanctifies and saves the souls of men. This she always 
will do till the consummation of this world. This work 
of the Spouse of Christ is typified by the After-Pente- 

i Gal. iy. 19. 2 John xiv, 16, 17, 26 ; xv. 26. 3 Is. ii. 2, 



318 THE HOLY SPIRIT INHABITS MAN. 

cost Season. She gathers then the fruit of holy souls. 
She baptises and guards the child from the moment of 
its birth. She teaches it her holy doctrine. She guides 
its stumbling footsteps during life, and at the end she 
sends the holy souls to heaven to worship God forever. 
Thus the work of the church is typified by this holy 
time, the last of the Seasons of the Christian year. 

The Christian is a temple of the Holy Ghost ; " Know 
ye not that your members are the temple of the Holy 
Ghost?" 1 No temple ever built by hand of man can 
equal the beauties of our bodies. In the beginning, God 
made man to live within him as in a temple, till sin in 
the garden drove the Lord away. Man becomes again 
the temple of his God at his baptism. 2 Then we should 
be like the Church. We should go on from virtue to 
virtue, gaining during this Season — gaining in grace and 
good works before God and man. But there is this dif- 
ference between the Church and man in being the temples 
of the Holy Ghost, that while the Church represents in 
summer time the ages which will come to pass from the 
days of our Lord to the end of the world, the soul can 
at the end of this Season begin again the same series 
of feasts and fasts, of ceremonies and services, of the 
times and of the Seasons of the year, and thus increase 
in holiness and in godliness, till at death God calls him 
to the everlasting glories of heaven. 

From the times of the Apostles, the parts of the Holy 
Bible read in the Offices and in the Services, have been 
arranged for this time, so as to tell of the works of the 
Holy Spirit both in the Church and in the soul. The 
history of the children of Israel is but a figure of the story 
of the Church 3 and of the Christian soul, and the trials 
and the battles of the Jews were types of the battles of 
the Church and of the Christians. From the first Sunday 
after Pentecost to the beginning of August, we read the 
four Books of Kings. They are a prophecy of the 
Church. The kingdom of Israel began by Saul. The 
Church of God began by the Jews. Saul was rejected 
by God. The Jews were discarded because they re- 
jected the Saviour ; David was chosen in his place. The 



1 1. Cor. vi. 19. 2 Cerem. Bapt. in Kituale. 3 St. Aug. Contra. Faust., 1. xxii., n. 
et De CiYitas Dei., 1. vii. c. 32, 



THE JEWS PREFIGURED THE CHRISTIANS. 319 

nations were taken in the place of the Jews. David 
first lived in continual combats and warfare ; the Church 
was first persecuted. At length peace came to Israel. 
Peace at length was given to the Church by Constantine. 
Solomon built his magnificent temple ; the Church reared 
her wonderful Cathedrals. For a long time the Jews 
lived in peace ; for many centuries the Church had peace 
during the middle ages. Of the twelve tribes ten fell 
away and were lost by . Samaria in the north, being 
separated from the centre of worship at Jerusalem. In 
the XYIth century the nations of the north of Europe 
fell away at the reformation and are being lost, for now 
we see that little by little the revelation of God preserved 
by tradition is being destroyed among them. From the 
death of Solomon began the wars of the Jews with the 
surrounding nations. Some were good and saintly kings, 
like Asa, Ezechias and Josias; some were bad infidel 
kings, like Achab, Manasser and Achaz. 

The people of God heard among the hills of Judea the 
voice of the Lord by the mouth of his prophets, calling 
them from the worship of idols, calling them to the wor- 
ship of the Lord. The people of the Church hear the voice 
of God by the mouth of the clergy, calling them from the 
vices of this world, which are like so many idols. The Jews 
heard from the inspired men of old the ruin which would 
fall on them if they did not return to the religion of their 
fathers, as now we tell of the ruin of nations and of em- 
pires if they serve not the Church. 1 Many times were the 
Jews punished for their sins. Many times have the 
Christians fallen because they served not their Lord. 
Thus the Jews were a figure of the Church, and Jerusalem 
a type of this world. They listened not to the prophets 
of the Lord. The Jews were taken captive ; Jerusalem 
was destroyed — figures of the destruction of all things at 
the last coming of our Lord, at the destruction of the 
world. 

In August we read the Sapiential Books — Proverbs, Ec- 
clesiastes, Wisdom and Ecclesiasticus — because they tell 
us of the wisdom of God. That wisdom is the Son of God, 
the "Wisdom of the Father" revealed to man by the 
guiding influence of the Holy Ghost through the I*roph- 

* Isaias lx. 32. 



320 PARTS OF SCRIPTURE READ IN SUMMER. 

ets and through the Church, and who ever lives in her, and 
speaks to mankind by the voice of our chief pastor, the 
Pope. 

Man can do nothing of himself for his salvation unless 
helped by God. Following this grace of God he soon be- 
comes a saint. To give a good example, we read in the 
month of September the lives of the Saints of the Old 
Testament, of Tobias, Judith, Esther and Job, in whose 
souls we see the work of the grace of God. But as towards 
the end of the world, as foretold by the prophets, the 
Church will be driven to fight the great battles, which 
will be raised against her by the persecutions of Anti- 
Christ, in the month of October we read the history of 
the last wars of the Jews, and how they conquered their 
enemies, as given in the books of the Maccabees. As they 
conquered those who would destroy the nation of the 
Jews, thus the Church will not be destroyed, but according 
to the words of our Lord, she will last till the end of the 
world. " Behold, I am with you always, even to the con- 
summation of the world." 1 Thus the Church, having her 
founder, Christ, with her, will outlive the persecutions of 
the last ages of the world. To recall the prophecies of 
the last days, when the number of the saints will be filled, 
in the month of November, at the end of the ecclesiastical 
year, we read the prophets of old — Ezechiel, terrible in 
his words ; Daniel, whose inspired eye reviews the empires, 
the nations and the peoples of the earth, and the little 
prophets, who foretell the vengeance of God, the calamities 
of the latter times, the end of all, the death of the world, 
and the wonders which will come to pass when the Son 
of God, in power and in majesty, will come to judge the 
living and the dead. 

Such is the meaning of the After-Pentecost Season, the 
summer of the Church, when Christian souls flourish in 
grace, like trees planted by the limpid waters of life flow- 
ing from the exhaustless fountains of the crucified Sa- 
viour. During this time the vestments are green, to ex- 
press the hope we have of salvation through our God, 
when guided by the Holy Ghost at the end of our exile 
in the heavenly and the everlasting Jerusalem which is 
above. 

1 Math, xxviii. 20. 



THE HOLY THEEE IN ONE. 321 

I — Trinity Sunday. 

The first Sunday after Pentecost is called Trinity Sun- 
day, because it is dedicated to the glory of the most 
Holy Trinity. From the times of the Apostles, the Chris- 
tians had a feast set apart in which they recalled the 
glory and the worship of the Triune God. In some of the 
churches, in those times, they celebrated that feast the 
first Sunday before Advent, but the most of the churches, 
following the traditions of the Apostles, held the festival 
on the first Sunday after Pentecost. 1 In the first ages, 
besides these two Sundays mentioned, they devoted each 
Sunday in the year to the Holy Trinity, till at length the 
first Sunday after Pentecost was above all others set apart 
to the special worship of the Trinity, 2 throughout the 
whole Church. 

All worship goes to the Holy Trinity, for when we 
adore any one of the most Holy Persons, we adore all 
Three, for they are one God. 3 At the end of all the pray- 
ers, in administering the sacraments, at the end of the 
Psalms, all end with the words, "Glory be to the Father, 
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost." These words 
were formed by the Apostles. 4 When Arius and his fol- 
lowers in the lYth century denied that Christ was God, 
equal to the Father in all things, the Nicene Council con- 
demned him, and to the words, " Glory be to the Father," 
etc., added, "As it was in the beginning, and is now, and 
will be forever, Amen," to show that Christ was always, is 
now, and ever will be God. 5 The Saints of these olden 
times had a special devotion to the Holy Trinity. The 
remains of that is seen in the services of the Church. Sun- 
day was dedicated to the resurrection of our Lord, but in 
another manner it was set apart for the glory of the Trin- 
ity. For that reason, on Sunday, the office of Matins is 
always made up of three watches of three lessons each, to 
honor the three Persons of the blessed Trinity. The Atha- 
nesian Creed, which treats of the Three Persons of God, 
is said at Prime, and the Preface of Trinity Sunday is 
sung at the Masses of the Sundays of the year when there 
is no other feast. 

1 Pope Alexander II. Decret. Quoniam Tit. de Fer. 2 Pope John XII. 3 Benedic- 
ts XIV. De Pest. D.N. Jesu (Jhristi, c. xii., n. 5. 4 Benedictus XIV. Ibidem, n. 7. 
Kosma, 164. 5 Acta Concil Sic; O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 186. 



?22 



HISTORY OF TRINITY SERVICES. 



In the Ylllth century we read that the pious Aleuinus, 
encouraged by St. Boniface, the Apostle of Germany, com- 
posed the votive Mass we offer in honor of the Holy Trin- 
ity. Later, in 1022, the German bishops pronounced in fa- 
vor of the devotion to that Mass. 1 Before that time the 
Belgians had a feast in honor of the Holy Trinity, for the 
bishop of Liege celebrated a solemn feast in his cathedral 
in 920, and composed a complete Office for the day. It 
spread rapidly, especially among the religious Orders dur- 
ing the first years of the Xlth century, being fostered by 
Bernon, Abbot of Beichnaw. We see by one of the old 
liturgical works of Cluny, that it was celebrated there for 
a long time before 1091. In 1061, Alexander II. sat upon 
the Chair of Peter, and sanctioned the celebration of the 
Feast of the Holy Trinity, which at that time had been 
spread into every part of the world. 

In the beginning of the Xllth century, the prince of 
liturgical writers, Rupert the Abbot, wrote: "After hav- 
ing celebrated the solemnity of the coming of the Holy 
Ghost, we sing the glory of the Holy Trinity, in the Office 
of the following Sunday, and that is very proper, because 
after the descent of that divine Spirit, began the preach- 
ing of our belief, and in baptism is the faith and the 
confession of the name of the Father, and of the Son, and 
of the Holy Ghost." 2 In 1162, the glorious martyr, St. 
Thomas of Canterbury, celebrated the feast of the Holy 
Trinity in the cathedral on the first Sunday after Pente- 
cost, in memory of his consecration to the episcopacy, 
which took place on that day. In 1260, the council of 
Aries, presided over by archbishop Florentin, solemnly 
sanctioned the feast in France, 3 and added to it an Oc- 
tave. In the beginning of the Xlllth century, Durand 
leads us to conclude that a great part of the Christian 
world kept the feast. 4 Some of the churches of France 
celebrate twice in the year the feast of the Holy Trinity, 
on the first Sunday after Pentecost and on the last Sun- 
day before Advent, 5 the remains of very ancient customs. 

When Atilla, the "scourge of God," conquered a large 
part of the Roman empire, he destroyed numberless litur- 
gical works of our holy religion. St. Boniface, archbishop 



1 Concil Seligen. 2 De Divinis Offlciis 1. i. c. i. 3 Can. vi. 4 Rationale Div. 1. vi., 
c. cxiv., 1. i. 5 At Narbonne, Mans and Auxerre. 



TEINITY SUNDAY SERVICES. 323 

of Metz, asked Alcuinus, the teacher of Charles and of his 
son Louis, kings of France, to rewrite again these books 
which had been destroyed. They were approved by the 
Council of Metz, and the feast of the Holy Trinity was 
commanded to be celebrated the first Sunday after Pen- 
tecost. 

Alcuinus wrote a special Mass for Trinity Sunday, 
which he showed to Pope Alexander, who replied that 
every day we give glory to the Trinity. 1 The Arians, 
who denied the Divinity of Christ and the Trinity, having 
spread, SS. Hilary and Ambrose, with Eusebius, wrote 
and preached against them, and Gregory the Great com- 
manded the Mass to be sung and churches to be built in 
honor of the Most Holy Trinity ; 2 because, although each 
Sunday was consecrated to the Trinity in the early days 
of Christianity, when but few feasts of the saints were 
celebrated, it was foreseen that as the saints grew in 
numbers their memory would be celebrated' during many 
Sundays of the year, and that unless a special feast in 
memory of the Holy Trinity was celebrated, soon the 
Trinity would not be honored as in former times. For 
that reason the feast was commanded to be held on the 
first Sunday after Pentecost. 3 

During this season of the year, except those of the 
Quater Tenses of September, the Masses have no titles 
like the great feasts of the other seasons, for they are not 
of such importance, or they do not go back to the Apos- 
tolic times. 

II. — Corpus Christi. 

The words Corpus Christi, in Latin, mean the Body of 
Christ, for in this feast we celebrate the goodness of God 
in leaving us his Body and his Blood to be our food and « 
drink. From the beginning of the Church, the memory 
of the institution of the blessed Sacrament was always 
celebrated on Holy Thursday ; but because the cere- 
monies of the Holy Oils took up the time of the clergy 
and of the people, they could not celebrate on that day 
the feast of the most Holy Sacrament. 1 



i Extra, de Fer., c. ii. 2 Durandus, Rationale Div. 1. vi., c. cxiv. n. 6. 3 Gueranger, 
Le Temps apres La Pent, p. 126. 4 Benedictus XIV. De Fest., D. N. 1. Christi, c. xiii. 
n. 1. 



324 THE PROCESSION OF CORPUS CHRISTL 

From the beginning the people of the Church poured 
out their greatest love and adoration to the Blessed Sa- 
crament. We find it mentioned so often in the writings of 
the Father and of the great Saints of the olden times. 
No one ever dared to deny the real Presence of Christ 
upon the altar, till Berengarius, 1 the proud, haughty, vul- 
gar and ignorant heretic, dared, in the face of the whole 
Catholic world, to deny that truth, taught by all ages 
from the time of the Apostles, that our Lord was real- 
ly present in the Eucharist. He said that Christ was 
present not really, but only in a typical manner. 2 By 
many Councils, but especially by one held in 1050, his 
errors were condemned. 3 Once he denied his heresy, but 
afterwards he returned to the vomit. Again he was con- 
demned,' when he again returned to the Catholic fold 
and died reconciled to the Church. 5 

We have spoken of the procession of the blessed Sacra- 
ment, which from the most ancient time takes place after 
the Mass of Holy Thursday, when it is carried to the 
repository, there to remain till, in the services of Good 
Friday, it is carried back to the main altar. On Corpus 
Christi the Host is again carried in triumph through the 
church, and in Catholic countries our Lord is borne by 
the clergy through the streets of the cities. The houses 
are decorated, the streets strewed with flowers, and the 
whole people turn out to honor their God. 

The custom of carrying the blessed Sacrament in a 
procession appears to go back to the most ancient times. 
We cannot find the beginning of the procession of Holy 
Week, but the procession of Corpus Christi appears to be 
more recent than the feast itself. Urban IV. speaks 
of it. 6 Martin Y. and Eugenius IV. granted indulgences 
to those who took part in the processions, 7 which sup- 
poses that they were then customary each year. Bosius 
tells us that in 1404 the Sacrament was carried in 
procession " as was usual before." 8 We find that cere- 
mony mentioned in a manuscript of the church of 
Chartres in 1330, in one of the Acts of the Chapters of 
Tournay in 1325, of Paris in 1320, and these two Councils 



1 In the year 1047. 2 Gautier de Praecip. Sectis Haeres Sec. x. et xi. 3 Concil. 
Rom. under Leo IX. 4 Synod Rom. sub. Greg. VIII. 5 1088. 6 Bull. Const, 7 20th 
May, 1429 . 20th May, 1433. 8 Chron. 



326 ORIGIN OF THE MONSTRANCE. 

granted special indulgences to all who would fast on the 
eve of the feast. 1 

It appears more probable that the Host was not always 
carried in a solemn procession as to-day, because of the 
persecutions, but that in some churches It was left on the 
altar, and there received the adoration of the faithful. In 
the eleventh century It was sometimes carried in proces- 
sion on Palm Sunday and on Easter morning. We can- 
not find out when the custom of carrying the Host in the 
monstrance began. 2 It is mentioned for the first time in 
the Council of Cologne. 3 The monstrance was first made 
like a little turret of gold. 4 In a manuscript Missal of 
1374 the letter D, with which the first prayer of Corpus 
Christi begins, represents a bishop carrying the Host in 
a turret with four openings. In after times, to give force 
to the Christian teachings that our Lord is the Son of 
Justice, which enlighteneth " every man that cometh into 
this world," 5 the monstrance was made with rays of gold 
coming forth from the blessed Sacrament. 6 That can be 
seen by examining a book called the " Gradual," of the 
time of Louis XII., 7 where the first letter of the Mass 
represents the Host carried by two persons vested in 
copes, followed by the king and a number of cardinals/ 

During the procession, the clergy and the people sing 
hymns and psalms in honor of their Lord. When they 
march in the streets of Catholic, cities, "stations" are 
prepared in different parts, where they place the Host on 
altars, and give the benediction to the people. Coming 
to the church, all is finished with a grand benediction, 
when the Sacrament is left on the grand altar for eight 
days to be worshipped and adored by the whole people. 9 

About the year 1230, a nun named Juliana said she had 
a vision, in which our Lord appeared, and said to her 
that he wished to have a special feast set apart to the 
honor of the Blessed Sacrament. 10 She consulted one 
of the canons of her diocese, 11 who advised her to ask 
the theologians and bishops. One of her advisers was 
James P. Trecenis, who afterwards became Pope, under 
the name of Urban IV. Moved by many reasons, 

i Labb. Concil. t. xi. p. 1680, 1711. 2 See O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 78. 
8 In 1452. 4 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 79. 5 John i. 9. 6 O'Brien, Hist, of the 
Mass, p. 79. 7 1498-1515. 8 Thiers, Exposit. du S. Sacr., 1. ii. c. 2. 9 Gueranger, Le 
Temps, apres La Pent., p. 323. 10 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 78. u Laodiensis. 



ORIGIN OF FEAST OF CORPUS CHRISTI. 327 

Robert, Bishop of Liege, in a Council, held in 1246, or- 
dered the feast to be held throughout his diocese. Hugo, 
Provincial of the Dominicans, moved by the prayers of 
the holy nun, approved of the feast, and when sent by 
the Holy See as Cardinal and Legate to Belgium, he 
fostered the feast in that country. 1 The matter was after- 
wards brought before Urban IV., who, after a long time, 
commanded the feast to be celebrated throughout the 
whole Church. 2 Pope Urban IY. died about two months 
after sending forth the Bull, and his commands were 
carried out only in the diocese of Liege. 

According to the Bull, the feast was to be celebrated 
on the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday. Clement V., 
the successor of Urban IV., in the Council of Vienna, 3 
confirmed the instructions of his predecessor, and with 
the consent and at the request of the greater part of 
the world, represented by the bishops of the Council, he 
commanded the feast of Corpus Christi to be held on the 
Thursday after Trinity Sunday throughout the whole 
world. Clement V. died, and John XXII. took his place 
on Peter's Chair. By every way he promoted and sanc- 
tioned the feast. Martin V. and Eugene IV. granted new 
indulgences to all who would, in a becoming manner, cele- 
brate the solemnity. The Council of Trent confirmed 
what was done before, and called it the Triumphant 
Feast. 4 

Urban IV., before his death, asked the great St. Thomas 
to write the Office of Corpus Christi. The Saint, whose 
wonderful mind has enlightened the world, who has been 
given to all as the greatest of the Doctors of the Church, 5 
composed the beautiful Offices of the Mass and Breviary 
of this feast. According to the words of Urban IV., " the 
Office of the same solemnity was composed by B. Thomas 
of Aquin." 6 The day for having the feast was fixed on 
Thursday, because on Thursday before he died, our Lord 
instituted the Blessed Eucharist. It was commanded to 
be held the first Thursday after Trinity Sunday, because 
the whole Easter Time is dedicated to the resurrection of 
our Lord, and thus it does not interfere with any of the 
other feasts of that season. 

1 Benedictus XIV. De Fest. J. Christi. c. xiii., n. 3. 2 Bull. Urban II. Am;. 1264. 
3 1311. 4 Ses. xiii., c. 15. 5 Leo XIII. Const. Unigenitus. 6 Bull. Frat. Predicat, t. 
iii., p. 555. 



328 did god's mother die? 

Ill— The Assumption. 

On the 15th of August the Church celebrates the Fe;i ;' 
of the Assumption. Some of the early saints supposed th it 
the Mother of our Lord never died, 1 but that she was 
taken up body and soul into heaven. 2 Many of them say 
they doubt her death ; others say she did not die ; 3 but the 
common opinion among both the Latins and the Greek 
Fathers is that she died. 4 The Bible is silent on the 
matter. The Gospels were written to give a history of 
our Lord from his conception till his going up into 
heaven, while the Acts of the Apostles tell us of the lives 
of some of the followers of our Lord, till they went forth 
into the different parts of the world to preach the Gospel, 
in the fourth reign of Nero and the sixty-third year from 
the birth of Christ. The other parts of the New Testa- 
ment give some of the doctrines, but not the history of 
these early days. Following the inspired words : " Who 
is the man that shall live and not see death," 5 "It is 
appointed unto men once to die," 6 the great writers say 
she died. Death can be taken in two ways, as the nat- 
ural end of all living creatures in this world, and as the 
punishment of sin. She committed no sin, for she was 
conceived to be the source from which was to come the 
human nature of the Son of God, and therefore as a sin- 
ner she did not die. But she died because she was a 
creature of this world. 7 This is the common belief of all 
Christians. As the daughter of Adam she was subject 
to all the miseries of this life, although without sin, and 
one of these miseries is death. 8 

The constant and universal tradition of the Church is, 
that our Lord's Mother died and was buried. 9 Her tomb 
to-day is pointed out on the side of the Mount of Olives. 
We know that she lived for many years with the beloved 
Apostle St. John at Ephesus, and that at length she went 
to Jerusalem, where she met all the Apostles. 10 There, 
many years after our Lord's ascension, she died, and 
they buried her. 

1 Serm. S. J. Joannis Damas. Or. 2 de Dor. B. M. V. 2 St. Epiphanhis, Hasrs., 78. 
s P. Macede de Clav. Petri, t. i. 1. iv., p. ii. * Benedictus XIV., De Festis B. M. Virj*. 
c. viii., 1. 2. 5 Ps. lxxxviii, 49. 6 Heb. ix. 27. 7 Benedictus XIV., Ibidem, n. 4. 
8 Theop. Reynaudus Dip. Mar. t. vii. n. 5. 9 S. Greg. Sacrament. Tilloment, t. i. n. 17. 
10 See The Falling Asleep of Mary and The Passing of Mary among the Apocrypa 
Gospels, etc. 



MARY FALLING ASLEEP IN THE LORD. 329 

From the most ancient traditions we learn that Mary 
left the home of the beloved Apostle St. John at Ephesus 
and returned to Jerusalem. At that time all the Apostles 
had preached the Gospel to the ends of the earth. Now, 
as by the hand of God, they all gathered again in the 
holy city. Suddenly they heard the voices of angels sing- 
ing the glories of their Lord. The Virgin Mother of our 
Lord laid down, and in the midst of the sweetest music 
ever heard by human ears she went to sleep in the Lord. 
Her body filled the air with sweetest odor, while the 
heavenly song still resounded from the invisible choir, 
and continued for three days after they buried her in the 
Garden of Gethsemane, in the tomb pointed out to-day. 
Thomas came after the burial, and asked to look once 
more on the face of the Lord's Mother. They opened the 
grave for him, but the body was gone, only her grave 
clothes were found, which filled the whole place with the 
sweetest odor. They closed the tomb, and from that 
time the Apostles taught that her body was taken up into 
heaven. 1 

We are not sure how old she was when she died. 
Some say she lived to a good old age, 2 others that she was 
57, 3 59 4 or 60 years of age when she died. 5 While we have 
the bones and the remains of all the Apostles and the 
martyrs, while countries and cities have in the past vied 
with each other in guarding the relics of the saints, no 
place, city or church has ever claimed to have the body 
of the Virgin. It is the common belief of all Christians 
that her remains were taken up into heaven shortly after 
her death, before her body saw corruption. 6 The doc- 
trine of the Assumption of the Virgin body and soul into 
heaven has not been defined by the Church, nor is it given 
in Scriptures, but the time will come when the Church 
will define it ; nevertheless, he who would attack such a 
pious and religious teaching would be guilty of the 
greatest temerity. 7 Such is the belief of all the Saints, 
Fathers, and of all the writers of the Church. The 
Church will one day define it, therefore it must be now 
in tradition. 



1 Ser. S. Joannis Damas. Or. 2 de Dormit. Dieparae. 2 Andreas Cretensis. 3 Nice- 
phorus Evodii. 4 Epiphanius Const. 5 St. Damascenus Horn, de Dermit. B. Vir- 
ginis, n. 18. 6 Benedictus XIV. Ibidem, n. 12. 7 See Words of Concil. Toledo in 
Vllth Centuiy, O. p. 4. St, Aug. ; Suarez iii., p. qu. xxxvii. a. 4, disp. 25. s, 2. 



330 HISTORY AND SERVICES OF ASSUMPTION. 

From the very earliest times, the Church celebrated 
the Feast of the Assumption on the 15th of August. 1 This 
is the day her body is said to have risen from the grave 
and gone up into heaven. The day of her death is not 
certain ; some say that two days, some three days, others 
seven or fifteen days before this she died. 2 But most 
writers think it took place three days before, following the 
example of her divine Son, who rose on the third day. 3 

We find that this feast was celebrated in the remotest 
times in the beginning of the Christian religion. 4 Some 
of the early churches held the Feast on the 18th of Jan- 
uary, till at length they followed the customs of the early 
Christians by celebrating the Assumption on the 15th of 
August. 5 We find the Saints of the earliest times preached 
some of their most eloquent sermons and wrote many 
beautiful things on the services of the Assumption of the 
Mother of God. 

Like the other great feasts of the year, the Assump- 
tion has an Eve, when we are to fast, and it is followed 
by an Octave. 6 It is always a feast of obligation, when 
we are to stop all servile work and hear Mass, in a word, 
we are commanded to keep it like Sunday. 

The Gospel is taken from St. Luke, 7 where our Lord 
went into the house of Lazarus, Mary sat at the feet of 
the Lord and Martha went about her work. Mary, say 
the great writers, was a figure of the religious life, while 
Martha was a type of the active life. The religious life 
is the most perfect; for that reason Mary was praised by 
her Lord while Martha received a mild chiding, because 
she was troubled about many things. This Gospel is read 
to-day, because Mary, the Mother of our Lord, was the 
first to prive women the example of following the religious 
life. She spent her early days in the temple, she was the 
first who ever took a vow of chastity, and she was thus 
the mother and the example of all virgins, who dedicate 
their virginity to God. 

All Saturdays are dedicated to the Mother of God, and 
on that day her Office is often said, because when our 
Lord lay dead in the tomb on Saturday, all his followers 



1 Can. I. de Consec. Dist. 3, c. ult. ; El Forque de las Ceremonia-, Trato. Cuarto, c. 
x. ; St. Cyril of Alexandria, etc. ' 2 Revelat. S. Brigit. 1. vii. c. 63 et 26. 3 Benedictus 
XIV. Ibidem, n. 25. 4 See Reply of Pope Nicolas I. in 858. 5 By order of PoDe Ser- 
gius, El Porque, T, Cuarto, c. x. 6 Leo IV. an. 347. 7 Luke x. 



THE MEMORY OF SAINTS AND MARTYRS. 331 

fled and gave up hope. His Mother alone had faith in 
his resurrection, and for that reason to remember her 
faith we celebrate her praises on Saturday. 

In the third week of September, following the Feast of 
the Holy Cross, come the Quater Tenses, or Ember Days 
of the fall season. Wednesday, Friday and Saturday are 
fasting days of obligation. They come in the week follow- 
ing the XVIIth Sunday after Pentecost. On Wednes- 
day the Station is in the great Church of St. Mary Major, 
where . the services are held. Friday the Station is at 
the Church of the Twelve Apostles, where the services are 
not as long as on the other two days. Saturdays the Sta- 
tion is in the great Church of St. Peter's at Rome, and 
the ceremony is of considerable length. 

IY. — Feast op All Saints. 

For four reasons we celebrate the memory of the Saints, 
that we may honor in them the wonderful works of God, 
for "God is wonderful in his saints ;"* that we may con- 
sider them as the instruments God used for carrying out 
his work in the salvation of souls ; that we may look on 
them as the temples of the Holy Ghost, who lived upon 
this earth, and that we may imitate their good works and 
thus become saints ourselves. 2 

Numberless are the saints and the martyrs, which the 
Church proposes to us, that we may honor and imitate 
them, but they are so numerous, that we cannot celebrate 
all their memories ; but in the Breviary we have the 
Offices of the principal Saints of God, whose feast is cele- 
brated on the day of their death. 

We celebrate each year the memory of all the saints 
in one great feast, because they are so numerous that we 
cannot set apart a day for each one during the year, but 
on this day we make up for all the negligences which we 
have been guilty of regarding the honor due them, and 
because by asking the aid of all the saints at the same 
time, we will be better helped by their united prayers. 3 

The Romans in Pagan times had so many gods that 
they could not dedicate a day of the year to each of them. 

1 Ps. Ixviii. 36. 2 Na'alis Alexander de Cultu Sane s. l. in fine. s Durandus, 
Rationale Div. 1. vii. c. xxxiv. n. 4, 



332 SEEVICES OF ALL SAINTS. 

For that reason Marcus Agrippa built a beautiful temple 
to the honor of Cybeles, the mother of all the gods, which 
he dedicated to all the divinities of the Eoman Empire. 
For that reason it was called the Pantheon, from two 
Greek words, meaning all the gods. Time passed, and 
the Eomans were converted from Paganism to Chris- 
tianity. Pope Boniface IY. obtained the Pantheon from 
the Emperor Phoca Caesar, who, as the successor of Con- 
stantine at Constantinople, ruled the Eoman Empire. 
Then the celebrated Pagan temple, dedicated to the 
mother of all the gods and to the false deities of Pagan 
Eome, was dedicated to the Mother of God and to all the 
martyrs. The feast was first celebrated in the month of 
May, and commanded to be celebrated throughout the 
whole world by Gregory III. ; but, by order of Pope 
Gregory IY., it was postponed till the 1st of November, 
because the people were accustomed on this day to bring 
the fruits of the earth to be offered in the church, and 
they could more easily get the fruits in the fall than in the 
spring. 

The eve of All Saints is a day of fast as a preparation 
for the feast itself. The Feast of All the Saints is a 
holiday of obligation, which must be celebrated like 
Sunday, by hearing Mass and resting from work. 

In the Epistle of the Mass of to-day we read the vision 
of heaven seen by St. John, the beloved apostle, in the 
Island of Patmos, such as he gives us in the Book of the 
Apocalypse. 1 

The Gospel is taken from St. Matthew, where our Lord 
preaches his wonderful Sermon on the Mount, and tells 
of the perfections of the saints, of the eight beatitudes of 
those who serve God upon this earth, of the sufferings 
and of the persecutions they will have to go through 
during this life, and of the rewards they will receive in 
heaven. 2 

Y. — Feast of All Souls. 

The custom of praying for the dead came from the 
Apostles. That doctrine is certain. The Old and New 
Testaments prove that it was a religious belief among the 



Apoc. vii. 2 Math. v. 



SEBVICES FOE THE BEAD. 333 

Jews. 1 The early Christians prayed at all times for the 
repose of their dead friends. ¥e cannot go into the 
proofs of that doctrine of the Church. It would be out 
of place in a work of this kind, written to explain the 
Christian Year. 

After celebrating the glories of the saints in heaven, 
the Church, the following day, on the 2d of November, 
remembers all her dead, all the souls who have gone be- 
fore, who are waiting to be delivered from their prison 
house and to be admitted into the happiness of heaven. 
It follows from the sweet doctrine of the communion of 
saints, that the Church is made up of three parts, the 
saints of earth, the blessed in heaven and the suffering 
souls of purgatory. That feast was instituted by the 
Apostles themselves, but the whole Office was revised by 
Origen. 2 

The object of these services is that the general pray- 
ers of the Church may aid those suffering souls with her 
spiritual benefits, for they cannot in any way help them- 
selves. 3 Its origin goes back to the time of the patri- 
archs, for we read that when Jacob was dead they wept 
over him for forty days in Egypt, and when they brought 
his body to Hebron, there they mourned him seven days. 
To-day the bodies of the patriarchs are guarded with 
jealous care by the Turks in the double cave which 
Abraham bought/ Their bodies are never shown to 
Christians, but a traveller disguised as a Mohammedan 
succeeded in entering the cave, where lie the embalmed 
bodies of the patriarchs. 5 

Again we read that when Moses died, for thirty days 
the children of Israel wept over him, the same as they did 
at the death of Aaron 6 and of Mary, his sister. From 
this custom of the Jews weeping for thirty days over 
their dead, the Christian Church has, from its beginning, 
observed the " Month's Mind," on the thirtieth day after 
death. 7 From the example of the children of Israel 
weeping seven days over Jacob in Hebron, we say Mass 
for the dead on the seventh day, and in remembrance of 
the three days of our Lord in the tomb, we say Mass on 



1 Bouvirr. De Praecip. Eccl. Fest. n. 5. Com. Fid. Defunct. 2 Isidore, Lib. de 
Eccl. Officiis. 3 De Consec. Dist. I. Visum 4 Gen. 1. 10. 5 C'uvalier's torn. iii. c. iv. 
n. 1. 6 O'Brien, Hist, of the Mass, p. 14. 7 Gavantus, p. 1, tit. 5, 1. a. 



334 REMEMBRANCES OF THE DEPARTED. 

the third day after death. 1 Some of the early Christians 
used to have Masses said for their dead on the ninth day, 
but it was forbidden, for the pagans mourned their dead 
for nine days. 2 The custom of having anniversary Masses 
for the repose of the dead is also very ancient. The year, 
as it were, revolving ever into itself, represents eternity 
into which the souls of the dead have passed. The 
anniversary for a dead friend can be held as often as we 
wish, for we cannot tell how long the souls remain in the 
other life before entering heaven. 3 When the anniver- 
sary of a saint falls on a Sunday or a feast day, it is put 
off till the next day it can be held, but when the anniver- 
sary of the dead falls in the same way, it is sometimes 
said before, so as to receive the benefit of the Mass as 
soon as we can offer it. On Sundays and feasts we can- 
not offer up the holy sacrifice for the dead, unless the 
body is present, because it would draw the people away 
from the services of the day. 

We should pray each day for our dead friends, 4 but on 
this day, we pray in general for all the dead, for there 
are many who die without friends, without any one to 
pray for them, and " their Mother, the Church, takes the 
place of all these." 5 As in the old law no oil of joy or 
sweetly smelling incense was offered in the sacrifices for 
sin, thus as death is a figure of sin in the Offices of the 
dead, no songs or signs of joy are seen or heard, all is 
mourning, for death has swallowed up his victims. Thus 
following the law of Moses the incense is not offered at 
certain times during the Masses for the dead. 

In the early times, when a person was about to die, 
following the example of St. Martin, he was laid on 
ashes or on straw. This was not a universal practice. 
The early writers say that after death the body was 
washed to signify that it would rise gloriously from the 
dead on the last day. 6 To follow the example of our 
Lord they used to sometimes anoint the body of the 
dead with oil. The custom of saying Psalms for the 
dead was commanded by some of the early Councils. 7 
They also ordered that the body should be carried by 

1 Cavalieri, torn. iii. c. iv. n. 1. 2 St. Liguori, De Caer. Missae, Ap. iv. c. iii. 3 13 quest. 
2 Nou aestimamus. 4 Concil. Cabilon. De Consecra. Dist. I. Visum. 5 St. Augustine 
L. de Cura pro Mortuis, c. ix. 6 Durandus, Rationale Div. 1. vii. n. 35. 7 Concil. 
Toletan, 13 quest. 2 Qui divina. 



THE LAST OF THE GREAT FEASTS. 335 

the members of the same station in life and of the same 
profession. That was the origin of the pall-bearers. 1 

The people from the most ancient times have been ac- 
customed to make some offerings to their clergy for 
Masses for their dead friends on the 2d of November. 
We are not able to find the beginning of that good and 
holy custom, but we are inclined to believe that it has 
always been in the Church. 

For the services of the dead and for a translation of 
the celebrated " Dies Irse," the reader is referred to the 
book " Teaching Truth by Signs and Ceremonies," where 
the meaning of the funeral rites will be found. 

The Gospel read on the Feast of all the Dead is taken 
from the Gospel of St. John, where our Lord says the 
time will come, on the last day, when the dead in their 
graves will hear his voice, and all will rise from the 
grave, some into everlasting life in heaven and some into 
everlasting death in hell. He speaks of the general judg- 
ment. 

Such is the last of the chief feasts of this Season of 
the year. On the last Sunday of the year the Church 
reads at the Mass the Gospel giving the prophecy of our 
Lord relating to the last and general judgment, for this 
Season tells of the time of the Church which will close 
the age of this world by the end of all things. That 
Gospel is read to bring before the minds of all men their 
last and final end. Thus the year in the Christian Church 
is like a sublime arena, whereon the miraculous birth, 
the holy life, the wonderful works, and the awful death of 
the Son of God is opened out before the minds of men 
in mystic rites, in striking figures, in majestic ceremonies, 
and in beautiful portraits, so that generation after gene- 
ration comes and goes on the stage of this world ; their 
creation by God, their fall by Adam, and their redemp- 
tion by Christ, are each year vividly brought before their 
eyes. 

Pray, reader, that the pen of the writer may, in its 
own feeble way, continue to show still further the won- 
derful beauties of the Church of God. 



De Consec. Dist. I. Sicut Extra, de Obser. Jejun. 



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